The Gophers men’s basketball team officially announced Niko Medved’s assistant coaches Thursday with Dave Thorson, Brian Cooley and Armon Gates.
Medved, who went to the NCAA tournament second round this year at Colorado State, previously said Thorson and Cooley would be part of his staff.
Thorson, a former Gophers assistant under Ben Johnson, worked with Medved twice before at Drake (2017-18) and Colorado State (2018-21). They also spent time together with the Gophers on Clem Haskins’ staff while Medved was a student manager.
Cooley, who spent nine seasons at South Dakota State, helped Medved build the Rams into an NCAA tournament team in three of the last four seasons after joining him in Fort Collins in 2021.
The newest member of the Gophers staff, Gates comes to the U after spending the last two seasons as an assistant under Porter Moser at Oklahoma. Gates, the brother of Missouri coach Dennis Gates, also has experience on staffs at Loyola-Chicago (2011-13), Northwestern (2013-18), Nebraska (2019-22) and Oregon (2022-23).
Known for his recruiting, Gates was credited most recently with helping the Sooners land four-star guard and fellow Chicago native Jeremiah Fears, who turned into an NBA prospect as a freshman this season.
Medved also has said player development coach Joe De Ciman is joining him with the Gophers from Colorado State. De Ciman and the rest of the Gophers new staff will be announced at a later time.
