I have had a life-long love affair with Gopher basketball. College basketball is undoubtedly my favorite sport to watch and from a young age I fell in love with The Barn. The 1996-97 run to the Final Four was just as enjoyable for me as the 1991 Twins, the ‘98 Vikings, the ‘24 Timberwolves and any other local team’s most successful seasons.
I remember where I sat for my first game at The Barn where I watched Glenn Robinson’s Purdue team beat Voshon Leonard and the Gophers. I was at the 1997 game against Iowa, sitting in the top row of the student section where I couldn’t quite see the opposite hoop because of the overhang. So when Sam Jacobsen took a three, I had to wait for the crowd's reaction before knowing if it went in or not.
As an adult, I channeled this love affair into blogging about my favorite team. I began the old GopherNation blog shortly before Tubby Smith was hired and not long after Tim Brewster took the football job. In fact, I was typing a post about suggested candidates to replace Dan Monson when the university surprised everyone with the announcement that Tubby Smith was leaving Kentucky for Minnesota.
The Tubby Smith era had its ups and downs, and every coach since has had a similar roller coaster, even including Dan Monson before him. These coaches have had just enough success to warrant roughly seven seasons, but there were more than a couple of seasons when the seat was hot. As someone who has been “covering” this program for nearly 20 seasons, I realize that until this program starts to achieve any meaningful success, the next coach to lead the program is just a season away.
So with that, I have been keeping a running list of coaches who I think would succeed at Minnesota. This has been periodically updated dating back to 2016 when Pitino went 2-16 in his third season and rumors were swirling. This being my 10th year of managing this list, my mind has been trained to always keep an eye out for who could actually be successful here.
Some examples of names I was keen on...
* Near the end of the 2017-18 season, where Pitino went 15-17, Buffalo’s Nate Oats and Nevada’s Eric Musselman were names I was very interested in. However, both were hired the following season in Alabama and Arkansas as Pitino bounced back to take the Gophers to the NCAA Tournament. Pitino made the NCAA Tournament the following season and held on to the job for a while longer.
* When Pitino was fired at the end of the 2020-21 season, one name that was at or near the top of my list was Dennis Gates from Cleveland State. Minnesota chose Ben Johnson instead and Gates took the Missouri job the following season. He is now in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.
* Grant McCasland, Pat Kelsey, Dusty May, Matt McMahon, and Mark Madsen (nobody bats 1.000) were other names in recent years that I’ve been closely tracking.
But the one thing that remains the same about every single coaching search for Minnesota is the insistence that the next coach HAS to have ties to the University or the state. This truth remains for basketball. Ryan Saunders, Niko Medved, Flip Saunders (before his passing), Ben Johnson, Brian Dutcher, Craig Smith, Ben Jacobsen, etc. The same names thrown out four years ago are being batted around again this time. One of them emerging as the likely candidate.
What I would like to propose (again) is that where the next Gopher coach was born should have absolutely zero bearing on who gets hired to lead the program. If the absolute best person for the job also resided in a Minnesota zip code at some point in his life, that is a tremendous bonus. It should not be listed as one of the top 20 qualifications required for the job.
The local media loves the local angle. I believe that many of the aging Gopher boosters also love this idea. This likely stems from a fear that the only way we can ensure that this coach won’t leave us for greener pastures is if he is from here. But there are two truths that contradict this...
1 - No coach has left Minnesota for a better job since 1985! That’s 40 years since Lou Holtz left the Gophers for Notre Dame.
2 - Money always talks. If Mark Coyle hires a coach who is locally and emotionally tied to the program, and this coach has tremendous success, and Duke comes along wanting to hire him and pay him double what Minnesota is willing to pay...he’s going to leave. He might even leave for similar money.
3 - (bonus truth) If this next coach has so much success that the elite blue-blood programs come calling...that is an amazing problem to have. At the very least, we will have achieved success that hasn’t been seen here since the 90s.
The flip side of this is that what if we are settling for a coach because we attribute his birthplace of origin as a significant factor?
Here are the blind resumes of three mid-major coaches who are attainable for Minnesota in this coaching cycle. Nobody at TDG is reaching out to sources or trying to be the first to report who the University hires. We do not have any idea if these names are being contacted or considered. But one of them is the name that is being talked about as near-certainty as the next Gopher coach.
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Looking at the table above, there are a few things that stand out.
There are other factors to consider, of course. What are the buyouts? How have these coaches recruited? How will they handle NIL? Have they coached at the Power 5 level? Do they have a plan for winning at Minnesota? [Do they have a system](https://www.thedailygopher.com/2025/3/13/24338261/minnesota-gopher-basketball-coaching-search-what-are-the-important-things-to-look-for-hire) that they recruit to and teach? Are they even interested in the Minnesota job? And if you want to have that conversation, we can continue this in the comments.
This decision is Mark Coyle’s to make and we really do not have any indication as to what factors matter most to him in this decision. But my fear is that he is making the same mistake that he made four years ago.
Perhaps this decision is coming from significant pressure from those who are willing to contribute financially to the program. Often boosters get to have significant influence because they are willing to fund the program. It has been well-documented that Coyle wants to see significant investment in the men’s basketball program. If people are willing to make that investment as long as Coyle hires the guy they want, then this choice makes perfect sense.
Regardless of why, this decision is going to be pinned on Coyle. If he thinks Niko Medved is the best man for the job, then that decision is on him and I look forward to hearing what put Medved atop the list. Suppose he thinks that there are better options for the Gophers but he is unwilling to make that decision because of conditions being put on potential financial support. In that case, this decision might be even worse for him.
All signs point to Niko Medved getting the job. He has had success at multiple stops, his Colorado State team is having a great season and he will have TDG’s full support. But put me down as having concerns. If this does not work out, Mark Coyle’s seat better become extremely hot for missing on this important hire twice in a row because the primary focus was on the birthplace of origin, not setting this program up for winning with the best person for the job.