"Back-to-back gut punches" - College hoops fans react as Colorado State loses HC Niko Medved to Minnesota hours after March Madness exit

Colorado State coach Niko Medved presided over a gut-wrenching, buzzer-beater 72-71 loss for the No. 12 seed Rams to the No. 4-seeded Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening. Medved led the Rams to their first win at the Big Dance in 12 years when they beat the No. 5-seeded Memphis Tigers in the first round last week.

Hours after the loss, CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein reported that Medved had taken the Minnesota Golden Gophers job to replace Ben Johnson, who was fired last week.

"Sources: Minnesota is expected to hire Colorado State’s Niko Medved as its next head coach," Rothstein wrote.

College basketball fans on X had mixed reactions to Niko Medved taking the Minnesota job.

Some fans were not too enthusiastic about the move.

"Back-to-back gut punches for the Rams faithful," one fan tweeted.

"Noooooooooooooooooo," another fan tweeted.

"At what point do we admit that Minnesota is a graveyard for coaches?" One fan tweeted.

Niko Medved has a storied history with the Gophers

Niko Medved attended Minnesota as a student and has plenty of history with the program after working as an assistant coach for two years (2006-2007) under coaches Dan Monson and Tubby Smith.

Medved signed a contract extension with the Colorado State Rams last year that runs through the 2028-2029 season with two-year extension options. He earned a $1.7 million salary this season. According to ESPN, Medved owes the Rams 33% of his remaining contract as a buyout clause.

Earlier in the week, during an appearance on "850 KOA" radio, Colorado State athletic director John Weber had commented on Medved's job status with the Rams after speculation linking him to Minnesota began in earnest.

“Coach Medved is certainly an elite coach,” Weber said. “We’re blessed to have him with us. He’s taken us to the tournament three of the last four years. When he’s had that level of success, there’s always going to be people that are knocking on your door. But we’re excited to have him as our coach and look forward to that continuing.”

Niko Medved left the Colorado State job with a 142-84 record, including leading the Rams to three out of four NCAA Tournament appearances, and won the Mountain West Tournament championship game a fortnight ago.

He also has an overall career record of 222-172 as a head coach during stints with the Furman Paladins and Drake Bulldogs in his 12-year coaching career.