University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Men's Basketball

A new era in Golden Gopher Basketball started when Niko Medved was named the University of Minnesota men’s basketball coach on March 24, 2025. Medved, a Rose...

Katsuma returned to his alma mater in April of 2025 after a two-year tenure at New Mexico and reconnects with Medved, working together for six seasons previously. In his time with the Lobos, he helped them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, a Mountain West regular season title and a Mountain West Tournament championship. In the 2024-25 season, the Lobos went 17-3 in the league, led by three All-Mountain West Players, including the league’s player of the year Donovan Dent. New Mexico also earned a 2025 NCAA Tournament first-round win over Marquette. In the 2023-24 season, Katsuma helped the Lobos to a 26-10 record and their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014. New Mexico had five all-conference players that season, including Dent and JT Toppin, who was also the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year. Katsuma spent five seasons at Colorado State and one year with Medved at Drake in roles as the Director of Basketball Operations and Director of Recruiting. During his five seasons at Colorado State, Katsuma was part of a staff that led the Rams to two postseason appearances, including a NCAA bid in 2022. In 2022, he was honored with the Asian Coaches Association Coach of the Year award. After serving as a manager at Minnesota while working on his undergraduate degree for four seasons from 2010-11 to 2013-14, Katsuma was a graduate manager for two seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16 where he helped with scouting, academics and player development. Upon gaining his maste

Armon Gates joined Medved's staff in March of 2025 after a two-year tenure at Oklahoma. While with the Sooners, Oklahoma advanced to a NCAA tournament berth in 2025 for the first time in four years. Gates is no stranger to Big Ten play, having previously been an assistant coach at Oregon, Nebraska and Northwestern. Gates was an assistant at Oregon for the 2022-23 season. The Ducks finished 21-15 and were one of the final eight teams in the NIT. Gates spent four seasons (2019-22) as an assistant coach at Nebraska. He was instrumental in developing Dalano Banton and Cam Mack. Banton was selected in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft and was only the second player in program history to notch a triple-double. Gates tutored Mack to 2019-20 All-Big Ten honors. Mack finished third on Nebraska's single-season assist chart. Prior to his time with the Huskers, Gates was at Northwestern for five seasons (2013-18). Gates helped the Wildcats tally a pair of 20-win seasons and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2017. The Wildcats recorded a top-30 recruiting class in 2014 and the 24th-ranked class by 247Sports in 2018. Gates coached All-Big Ten performers Bryant McIntosh, Vic Law, Scottie Lindsey, Tre Demps and Drew Crawford. McIntosh finished fifth on the Big Ten's career assist list. Gates also spent two seasons at Loyola Chicago (2011-13) during Porter Moser's first two seasons leading the program. During his time with the Ramblers, Ben Averkamp earne

Brian Cooley joined the University of Minnesota coaching staff in March of 2025 after a four-year stint at Colorado State. Cooley was also an assistant coach under Niko Medved during his CSU tenure. Cooley was at Colorado State from 2021-25 where he helped the Rams to three NCAA tournament berths in four seasons. Working with the Rams’ big men, he oversaw the development of All-American and first round NBA draft pick David Roddy. He also oversaw one of the most efficient shooting seasons in program history from another CSU big man in Patrick Cartier in 2022-23. Prior to Colorado State, Cooley spent five seasons at Wright State (2016-21), the last four as the associate head coach. He also served as the Raiders’ recruiting coordinator. Cooley helped the program to an overall record of 109-49, three conference championships and three postseason bids. He helped Wright State to the NCAA Tournament in 2018. Cooley was at South Dakota State for nine seasons from 2007-18, the last seven as an assistant coach and the first two as a graduate assistant. While in Brookings, he saw 154 wins, 121 of those over the final five seasons, all five ending with a postseason berth. Three times SDSU went to the NCAA Tournament with Cooley on staff. The program picked up its first-ever postseason win in 2015 when it defeated Colorado State in the first round of the NIT. Cooley started his coaching career as an assistant coach for Bellevue East High School in Bellevue, Nebraska during the 2006-07 sea

University of Minnesota head men’s basketball coach Niko Medved has announced that Dave Thorson will continue his role as assistant coach of the Golden Gophers. Thorson began his second tenure with the maroon and gold in 2021. Thorson, who is one of the most decorated coaches to grace a sideline in Minnesota, reunites with Medved after serving as an assistant with Medved for three years at Colorado State from 2018-21 and one year at Drake in the 2017-18 season. The duo were also with Golden Gopher men's basketball under former coach Clem Haskins when Medved was a student manager. Thorson was a part of the Minnesota staff that developed Dawson Garcia as a three-time All-Big Ten selection and top 10 in Gopher career scoring. Garcia led Minnesota in points and rebounds all three of his seasons, including 614 points in 2024-25, which ranked top five in the Big Ten. At Colorado State, Thorson helped revive a program that won 11 games prior to his arrival. In his first year on staff, the Rams won 12 games and then posted 20 wins in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Colorado State advanced to the 2021 NIT Semifinals and finished the season 20-7. In his one season at Drake, the Bulldogs went 17-17 in 2017-18 after recording just seven wins the year prior. Thorson's name is practically synonymous with amateur basketball in Minnesota. He was previously a Minnesota assistant coach from 1990-94 and then coached DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis for 23 years. At DeLaSalle, Thorson guided his teams