Colorado State promotes Farokhmanesh to HC
Mar 26, 2025, 11:00 PM ET FORT COLLINS, Colo.– Colorado State employed Niko Medved’s leading assistant to replace him as basketball coach following a fast 24-hour search.Ali Farokhmanesh, 36, was promoted Wednesday evening after Medved left Fort Collins earlier this week to coach at his university, Minnesota.The hire offers some connection for a program that was 143-85 under Medved and posted 3 25-win seasons in the last 4 years. The Rams reached the NCAA competition 3 times in that span and reached the Round of 32 last weekend before a buzzer-beater by Maryland’s Derik Queen denied them a trip to the Sweet 16. Farokhmanesh agreed to a five-year agreement worth$4.5 million, according to the university.Editor’s Picks In a press release announcing the hire, CSU athletic director John Weber stated,”I am delighted that Ali will
continue leading our guys’s basketball program, now as head coach.””Ali has an unrelenting attitude that he assaults every day with, which was very important to us as we searched for the next leader of our
men’s basketball program,”Weber added. “There has been considerable interest in the head coach position at Colorado State. After an exceptionally detailed and competitive national search, Ali’s continued management of this program is necessary and truly excites me. “Farokhmanesh spent the last 8 years as Medved’s assistant, first at Drake in 2017-18 before following him to Fort Collins.The Rams won the Mountain West Conference Tournament and upset Memphis in their NCAA opener this year. A day after that buzzer-beating heartbreaker, Medved revealed he was leaving for his home town school.This time, Farokhmanesh didn’t follow him.”I can’t wait to continue to develop off the championship foundation our players have actually established and push it to higher heights,”Farokhmanesh said in a statement released by the school.During his playing profession, Farokhmanesh starred at Northern Iowa and hit winning 3-pointers against UNLV and No. 1-ranked Kansas in the 2010 NCAA tournament.