To jolt its men’s basketball program from a malaise roughly 15 years long, Minnesota is doing a very Minnesotan thing: turning to one of its own.

Colorado State’s Niko Medved, who was born in Minneapolis and is a graduate of suburban Roseville High School and the state’s flagship university, has been hired as the Gophers’ next head coach, a source briefed on the decision confirmed. CBS Sports first reported the move.

This is far more than a parochial pick, though. The 51-year-old Medved has been considered a rising star in the profession ever since he arrived at Furman in 2013 and took that program from nine wins in Year 1 to 23 victories and a Southern Conference regular season championship in Year 4.

After a one-year layover at Drake, Medved has gone 140-84 at Colorado State while taking the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons out of an extremely competitive Mountain West Conference. Colorado State caught fire toward the end of the 2024-25 season and put together a 10-game win streak that included a conference tournament championship and a jump from the NCAA Tournament bubble to the league’s automatic spot in the field. The Rams fell victim to a Derik Queen buzzer beater in a 72-71 loss to No. 4 seed Maryland in the round of 32 on Sunday.

Minnesota had been interested in speaking with Medved from the very beginning of its search, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Still, snagging a top target is only the first step. A program that has one NCAA Tournament win since 2013 — and hasn’t appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 since January 2021 — must marshal the resources to compete in an ultra-deep Big Ten, no matter who the coach is. That means a competitive pool of name, image and likeness compensation and, while it may be considered sacrilege, a thorough inspection of a new home to replace venerable but age-old Williams Arena.

(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)