Strike 2: No one in and around Fort Collins should begrudge former CSU head coach Niko Medved the chance to return to his home, his alma mater and his family and friends to take over as the new head coach of the Big Ten’s Minnesota Golden Gophers. Everyone should simply wish him well.
Medved spent what is an eternity these days in the Fort, coaching the Rams for seven seasons and leading them to the NCAA Tournament three times, including this season when CSU won the Mountain West conference tournament and beat Memphis in the first round before losing on a last second shot to Maryland. It was an epic run, arguably the best season in program history.
Niko earned this promotion. And like it or not, this is a promotion.
Fortunately, his former top assistant, Ali Farokhmanesh, has also earned the promotion he got, moving up to the top job he now holds at CSU. Farokhmanesh had been with Medved since day one, and he was clearly being groomed for this eventuality. Everything you see and read screams that the former Northern Iowa March Madness hero is ready for the gig.
That means the question now becomes, how long can CSU hold on to Coach Ali?
Yes, we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit here, but the current state of college hoops suggests that keeping a high caliber coach for multiple years, especially if you’re a mid-major like CSU is, can be very difficult right from the jump.
Whether Rams fans want to hear this or not, Colorado State is nobody’s “destination job.” It’s become a really good program that will compete annually in the new Pac-12 conference starting in the fall of 2026. Nevertheless, jobs like CSU and New Mexico – which just lost head coach Richard Pitino to the Big East conference – will likely forever be “stepping stone” gigs. That’s the way it’s always been, for coaches and administrators. As a mid-major (and who knows if that moniker will change when the Pac-12 is reborn) CSU isn’t in a position to compete with the Power Four (or five in hoops) conferences in terms of prestige and compensation.
Medved will earn a reported $19.5 mil over the life of a six-year contract in Minneapolis.
Colorado State simply can’t play poker at that table.
And with the new changes to college sports revenue-sharing plan expected to be finalized next week, everyone will be focused on trying to make sure they have a pool of $21.5 mil to share with student-athletes every year. For all these mid-majors and basketball only schools, where is that money going to come from? Sure, the Gonzaga’s of the world don’t have to share revenues with football players, but they also don’t get the monster revenue that football brings in every year.
The reality is that Colorado State, New Mexico and other mid-level athletic programs will have to work extra hard just to keep what they have, coaches and players included. Money is making a lot of recruiting decisions these days. And while that’s good news for the participants, it’s bad news for the fan bases.
Smaller programs will need to be ready in a moment’s notice to replace not only players like Kyan Evans, but also any successful coach or AD that gets a more lucrative offer after achieving any level of success. If Farokhmanesh can do what’s setting up to be a total hoops rebuild in the Fort in short order, he too will become a hot commodity sooner rather than later.
That’s the price of mid major success.
