Rams Hire Niko Medved As New Men's Basketball Coach
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) - The CSU Rams have a new head coach for their men's basketball team.
Niko Medved coached at Drake University last year and spent several years coaching at Furman before that. He was also an assistant coach at CSU from 2007 to 2013.
"We are extremely excited to have Niko assume the leadership of our basketball program," CSU Director of Athletics Joe Parker said in a statement. "Throughout our discussions, he showed a great understanding of what basketball means to Colorado State University and the community while demonstrating how much he has developed in his five years as a head coach. He has not only had success on the court at Furman and Drake in taking his teams to the postseason in each of the last three years, but also grew his student-athletes into young men who were also solid in the classroom and engaged in the community. We welcome Niko and Erica back to Fort Collins and are excited that Aly will be growing up as a Ram in Colorado."
Colorado State's former coach Larry Eustachy resigned last month as the school examined him for the second time an alleged atmosphere of "fear and intimidation" created among the players on his roster.
Medved began his coaching career at the University of Minnesota in 1992 as a student manager and assistant. He served as associate head coach at Macalester College from 1997–1999 and worked four years as an instructor at the prestigious Nike All-America camp. Medved earned his B.S. in kinesiology in 1997 and his master's in sport management in 1999, both from the University of Minnesota.
He spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Furman (1999-2006), including serving as the school's interim head coach in the spring of 2006. Furman registered winning seasons in each of Medved's last three years in Greenville and four of the final five seasons. He then spent one season (2006-07) as an assistant at the Minnesota under Dan Monson before joining Miles' first staff at CSU in 2007.
Niko and his wife Erica have a one-year-old daughter, Aly.
The Rams will introduce Medved on CSU's campus in Fort Collins on Friday morning.
