The Gophers men’s basketball team is going into the new season with almost a completely new roster of players. 

With the exception of Isaac Asuma, Grayson Grove, and Erick Reader, Gophers fans will be seeing a team of new faces on the court for the 2025/2026 basketball season. The newest addition being Cade Tyson. 

On June 2, Tyson announced he would be joining the Gophers after playing at North Carolina and Belmont. 

Tyson played a total of 92 games so far in his career, scoring a total of 993 points with 142 3-point shots and 48.3% from the field. 

Head coach Niko Medved said in a press release that Tyson is a versatile player who will impact the team. 

“He’s a dynamic scorer, a true playmaker and a great rebounder,” Medved said. “Cade is a terrific addition to our program and we can’t wait for him to be a Gopher.” 

Tyson will be playing for the Gophers in his senior year and already feels connected to the team.

“I really get along with my teammates and my coaches,” Tyson said. “I think we have a good understanding and connection with one another, and I feel like that is only going to get better.”

Tyson added that one of the things that drew him to Minnesota was the coaching staff. 

Tyson is not the only senior to join the Gophers for the 2025-2026 season. Langston Reynolds announced his commitment on April 14. 

Reynolds had an impressive three seasons with Northern Colorado before joining Minnesota. In the 2024-2025 season, Reynolds averaged 16 points and 5.6 rebounds. 

Reynolds earned first team All-Big Sky honors and was named Big Sky player of the week three times.   

Medved said in a press release that he is excited to add Reynolds to the team.

“Langston is a physical, athletic guard who plays well in transition, can get downhill and has good rebounding ability,” Medved said. “He also has a great personality, and we’re thrilled to have him in the Maroon and Gold.”   

Another player added to the 2025-2026 roster is Nehemiah Turner. Turner played his freshman year at Central Arkansas. 

He played in all 33 games of the season, and he averaged 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds. In his last two months playing for Central Arkansas, he averaged 17 points. 

Turner said one of the main reasons he chose Minnesota is because his and Medved’s goals align. 

“I want to go somewhere where I can develop my game and win,” Turner said. “He has put guys in the league and he wins, so it is a no-brainer.” 

Medved shares the same excitement Turner does for him joining the Gophers. 

“Nehemiah is a terrific addition to our program,” Medved said in a press release. “He has size, strength and skill with great finishing ability.”

Medved added that Turner has good paint presence and a high ceiling, along with looking forward to having him be a part of the roster. 

One of the most talked about recruits for the next season is Chansey Willis Jr. Willis played last season at Western Michigan, but also spent time with Henry Ford College and Saginaw Valley State. 

Willis led the Mid-American Conference in scoring with an average of 16.8 points and added 5.8 assists. He ranked fifth in the league for steals per game with 1.7 and an assist-to-turnover rate of 1.8. 

Willis said that one of the reasons he came to Minnesota was that it is far away from home. 

“I wanted to get uncomfortable just to get comfortable,” Willis said.

He added that Medved was also a factor and that he brings a smile and joy. 

“Players need that, you don’t know what we go through outside of basketball,” Willis said. “That’s what I look at all of these coaches, they want what’s best for you.”

Medved also said in a press release that Willis is a great playmaker to have on the team. 

“He is a dynamic scorer who can use his speed to his advantage,” Medved said. In addition, he’s a great two-way player and we’re excited to have him on our team.”

Isaac Asuma played many sports growing up, but basketball is the only one that made him into a  Minnesota Gopher. 

Asuma said that while he had always played basketball, it was mainly third in the list of sports that he played up until seventh grade. 

 “Something flipped a switch in my head, and I was like ‘Yeah, I can do this,’” Asuma said. 

Jolene Asuma, Isaac’s mom, said for a while, baseball was his favorite sport, even after trying football and basketball. However, that ended up changing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The baseball season got canceled, and we did a lot of basketball that summer,” Jolene said. “He just really grew and was like ‘I think this is it for me.’” 

She said that while he did continue to play baseball and football in high school, basketball was the sport that he really loved. 

One thing that both Isaac and Jolene love about being Gophers is how accessible the games are for family. 

“I’m glad he stayed in Minnesota,” Jolene said. “We went to every home game, it was something to look forward to every week.” 

Asuma is one of the three players who stayed with the Gophers going into the 2025-2026 season. He had an impressive freshman year with the Gophers. 

He averaged 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and an average of 24.7 minutes played. In his debut game against Oral Roberts, Asuma scored six points, had two assists and added one steal.

One of the main reasons Asuma stayed with the team was because of the new Gophers coach, Niko Medved. During the 2024-2025 season, Asuma played under head coach Ben Johnson. 

Johnson was then fired by the University back in March of this year and later replaced by Medved. Asuma said after just one meeting with Medved, he knew he wanted to stay. 

“He has the right mindset, and he is about the right things,” Asuma said. “He will be able to turn this program around, and I want to be a part of that.” 

The two other players who stuck with the Gophers into the next season are Grayson Grove and Erick Reader. The two of them are both roommates with Asuma. 

Grove agreed that Medved was a driving factor for staying in Minnesota. 

“I loved everything he had to say,” Grove said. “Just the vision he has for the program is just super, super exciting for me.” 

Grove said it is nice to still have some familiar faces on the team going into this next season. 

“It is super nice having Isaac on the team still,” Grove said. “He is just the guy you can always look up to, he’ll always be there if you ever need help. Every team needs a guy like that.” 

Jolene said throughout Isaac’s career in basketball, one of his biggest strengths is how level-headed he is.

“He is never too high and never too low, he is actually very stoic,” Jolene said. “People would always say that you would never know if he scored a 3-point shot, or a half-court shot, or just had a turnover.” 

The Gophers have an almost entirely new roster heading into next season. They have all been training and getting to know each other during summer practice. 

Asuma said training with the new guys has been a great experience. 

“All the guys bring so much energy, and they are all really good players,” Asuma said. “They are all just fun to be around.” 

Asuma said off the court, the team has been grabbing food together and hanging out. 

Asuma has a set of goals that he would like to achieve next season, one of which is being an All-Big Ten player. However, his biggest goal is to help the team in any way he can. 

“I just really want to help the team win,” Asuma said. “I got tons of experience of playing time last year, so hopefully the work that I put in the off season will show.”

Isaac Asuma played many sports growing up, but basketball is the only one that made him into a  Minnesota Gopher. 

Asuma said that while he had always played basketball, it was mainly third in the list of sports that he played up until seventh grade. 

 “Something flipped a switch in my head, and I was like ‘Yeah, I can do this,’” Asuma said. 

Jolene Asuma, Isaac’s mom, said for a while, baseball was his favorite sport, even after trying football and basketball. However, that ended up changing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The baseball season got canceled, and we did a lot of basketball that summer,” Jolene said. “He just really grew and was like ‘I think this is it for me.’” 

She said that while he did continue to play baseball and football in high school, basketball was the sport that he really loved. 

One thing that both Isaac and Jolene love about being Gophers is how accessible the games are for family. 

“I’m glad he stayed in Minnesota,” Jolene said. “We went to every home game, it was something to look forward to every week.” 

Asuma is one of the three players who stayed with the Gophers going into the 2025-2026 season. He had an impressive freshman year with the Gophers. 

He averaged 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and an average of 24.7 minutes played. In his debut game against Oral Roberts, Asuma scored six points, had two assists and added one steal.

One of the main reasons Asuma stayed with the team was because of the new Gophers coach, Niko Medved. During the 2024-2025 season, Asuma played under head coach Ben Johnson. 

Johnson was then fired by the University back in March of this year and later replaced by Medved. Asuma said after just one meeting with Medved, he knew he wanted to stay. 

“He has the right mindset, and he is about the right things,” Asuma said. “He will be able to turn this program around, and I want to be a part of that.” 

The two other players who stuck with the Gophers into the next season are Grayson Grove and Erick Reader. The two of them are both roommates with Asuma. 

Grove agreed that Medved was a driving factor for staying in Minnesota. 

“I loved everything he had to say,” Grove said. “Just the vision he has for the program is just super, super exciting for me.” 

Grove said it is nice to still have some familiar faces on the team going into this next season. 

“It is super nice having Isaac on the team still,” Grove said. “He is just the guy you can always look up to, he’ll always be there if you ever need help. Every team needs a guy like that.” 

Jolene said throughout Isaac’s career in basketball, one of his biggest strengths is how level-headed he is.

“He is never too high and never too low, he is actually very stoic,” Jolene said. “People would always say that you would never know if he scored a 3-point shot, or a half-court shot, or just had a turnover.” 

The Gophers have an almost entirely new roster heading into next season. They have all been training and getting to know each other during summer practice. 

Asuma said training with the new guys has been a great experience. 

“All the guys bring so much energy, and they are all really good players,” Asuma said. “They are all just fun to be around.” 

Asuma said off the court, the team has been grabbing food together and hanging out. 

Asuma has a set of goals that he would like to achieve next season, one of which is being an All-Big Ten player. However, his biggest goal is to help the team in any way he can. 

“I just really want to help the team win,” Asuma said. “I got tons of experience of playing time last year, so hopefully the work that I put in the off season will show.”

REGAN GUIRGUIS: Hi everyone. This is Regan Guirguis and you’re listening to The Gold Standard, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota sports. Today, I’ll be doing this podcast solo, but I do have quite a few topics to talk about. The first one being two articles written by my fellow sports reporter, Megan Davis.

The first article is about the men’s track and field performance at the NCAA Championships. They finished seventh, which is the highest finish for the men’s track and field team since 1948 which is quite impressive. 

And while the Gopher womens did not have enough athletes in attendance to place as a team as a whole, they did see some good performances from red shirt sophomore Ali Weimer and graduate student Dyandra Gray. I would highly recommend this article if you wanna learn more about track and field at the University of Minnesota and wanna see some of their successes. 

Now the next article I’m gonna be talking about is one that was also written by Megan. And it’s about the House v. NCAA settlement being approved on June 13. This is something that I think will be really relevant to not just college sports fans, but sports fans in America. It is basically as, as Megan describes, it means that colleges can now directly pay their student athletes.

Now, back in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of what would be called NIL, or name, image, likeness. And that basically allowed college athletes to profit off of their likeness. But the money came from outside companies that weren’t related to the college. It would be like Koi Perich on the Gushers box, that is name, image, likeness, because they’re using his name and his image to increase sales. 

And Koi Perich would get a part of that because they’re using him. But now in this case, it is just that the colleges are directly paying their students for their work. This is a really interesting article. It has a lot of good explanations. Better than I could probably explain a lot of great quotes and statistics as well. 

I would highly recommend, if you wanna be updated and be in the loop with what’s going on. College sports with this next season because this is definitely a growing story, and it’s not gonna die out anytime soon. It will continue to expand and evolve. 

Something that I thought was interesting that Megan mentioned in this article was that ESPN reported that $2.8 billion will be given to student athletes who started playing in 2016 or later and never saw money from their likeness being used. This money is gonna be split between different colleges and it will mainly be for college football and men’s basketball stars. 

The last quote that Megan has in her article, I think really sums up this controversy around college sports and professional sports. I mean, the settlement means that colleges are directly paying their athletes, which a lot of people say are the same thing as teams directly paying their professional athletes.

It’s super interesting. And this quote is from Cal Stein, who was a sports lawyer, interviewed by The Athletic, and he’s basically saying that the NCAA made their job even more difficult for themselves. The direct quote is, “The house settlement started with the goal of the NCAA putting an end to the losses it has taken in these litigations. The great irony is that it’s really going to lead to more lawsuits.”

The next thing I’m gonna be talking about is the men’s basketball team. As many of you know, the Gopher’s basketball team has been going through a lot of changes since their last season with the firing of head coach Ben Johnson and bringing in new coach Niko Medved from Colorado State, and also the fact that majority of our players either went into the transfer portal or graduated.

I would like to highlight three players who did stay with the Gophers this year, Isaac Asuma being one of them. Then there’s Grayson Grove and Erick Reader. These three, I had the pleasure to talk to today. They’re all super, super excited to continue being Gophers and they’re really excited for the next season and to continue working under Medved as well as kind of introducing these new guys to the state of Minnesota and preparing them for those cold winters.

Which kind of leads into the next story that I’m writing, which is about some of the new players on our men’s basketball team. I’m not reporting on all of them, but there are a couple that I am talking about. Chance Stephens and Cade Tyson, I also had the pleasure of talking to those guys today. They’re excited to be Gophers. 

You know, it seems like the continuing, kind of like, red thread between all of this, between the people who stayed and the people who came was Medved, and talking to him and the values that this new coaching staff has. And it seems like this team is ready to win and not just ready to win, but ready to thrive and go farther than the Gophers have seen their men’s basketball team go in a lot of years. 

The last thing we’re gonna talk about today is not about Gopher sports, but it is about an article that I wrote last week, and it is about Mark Hulsey and Moses Cooper. Mark Hulsey is a competitive runner who has ran multiple different marathons throughout the U.S. and also on international levels.

He also does work with myTeam Triumph in Minnesota. And what myTeam Triumph is, it’s an organization that allows children, teens and adults and veterans who have disabilities to lead the team and experience endurance races, they are captains while the person who is pushing them or pulling them are called angels.

So in this case, Mark is Moses’ angel. Mark’s goal was to make it to a marathon with his captain. This is a goal that has been achieved by people in the past, like Dick Hoyt and Rick Hoyt. Who, Dick Hoyt pushed his son, Rick Hoyt, who had Cerebral Palsy in many races, including marathons. 

And they kind of built up this recognition for disabilities in sports and specifically disabilities and running, and that’s kind of what, you know, gave the inspiration to Mark to be able to do this. And it’s not something that has been seen in the Minnesota Team Triumph kind of  organization yet, but everyone was super supportive, including Moses Cooper and his mom.

And so Mark and Moses have been a team ever since. With Moses being his captain, Mark being his angel. They were recently gifted a new racing chair, which is quite incredible. A lot of people are cheering them on and supporting them through this process, and they are ready to go and try to qualify for Boston.

I think this article is just an important read because it proves that, you know, people are still fighting hard for inclusion, disability inclusion in sports, and they wanna make sure that people like Moses are able to have the support and have the opportunities that myTeam Triumph is giving him.

And yeah, I just think that this kind of stuff is important. It’s important to look at sports in Minnesota and not just Gopher sports, but general sports and see that the community is as strong as ever and that people are excited to support one another. 

That being said, that’s all I have for you guys today. Stay tuned for further Gold Standards throughout the summer months. Thank you for listening, and if you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can drop them in our email inbox at podcasting@mndaily.com.

I’m Regan Guirguis, and this has been The Gold Standard.

REGAN GUIRGUIS: Hi everyone. This is Regan Guirguis and you’re listening to The Gold Standard, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota sports. Today, I’ll be doing this podcast solo, but I do have quite a few topics to talk about. The first one being two articles written by my fellow sports reporter, Megan Davis.

The first article is about the men’s track and field performance at the NCAA Championships. They finished seventh, which is the highest finish for the men’s track and field team since 1948 which is quite impressive. 

And while the Gopher womens did not have enough athletes in attendance to place as a team as a whole, they did see some good performances from red shirt sophomore Ali Weimer and graduate student Dyandra Gray. I would highly recommend this article if you wanna learn more about track and field at the University of Minnesota and wanna see some of their successes. 

Now the next article I’m gonna be talking about is one that was also written by Megan. And it’s about the House v. NCAA settlement being approved on June 13. This is something that I think will be really relevant to not just college sports fans, but sports fans in America. It is basically as, as Megan describes, it means that colleges can now directly pay their student athletes.

Now, back in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of what would be called NIL, or name, image, likeness. And that basically allowed college athletes to profit off of their likeness. But the money came from outside companies that weren’t related to the college. It would be like Koi Perich on the Gushers box, that is name, image, likeness, because they’re using his name and his image to increase sales. 

And Koi Perich would get a part of that because they’re using him. But now in this case, it is just that the colleges are directly paying their students for their work. This is a really interesting article. It has a lot of good explanations. Better than I could probably explain a lot of great quotes and statistics as well. 

I would highly recommend, if you wanna be updated and be in the loop with what’s going on. College sports with this next season because this is definitely a growing story, and it’s not gonna die out anytime soon. It will continue to expand and evolve. 

Something that I thought was interesting that Megan mentioned in this article was that ESPN reported that $2.8 billion will be given to student athletes who started playing in 2016 or later and never saw money from their likeness being used. This money is gonna be split between different colleges and it will mainly be for college football and men’s basketball stars. 

The last quote that Megan has in her article, I think really sums up this controversy around college sports and professional sports. I mean, the settlement means that colleges are directly paying their athletes, which a lot of people say are the same thing as teams directly paying their professional athletes.

It’s super interesting. And this quote is from Cal Stein, who was a sports lawyer, interviewed by The Athletic, and he’s basically saying that the NCAA made their job even more difficult for themselves. The direct quote is, “The house settlement started with the goal of the NCAA putting an end to the losses it has taken in these litigations. The great irony is that it’s really going to lead to more lawsuits.”

The next thing I’m gonna be talking about is the men’s basketball team. As many of you know, the Gopher’s basketball team has been going through a lot of changes since their last season with the firing of head coach Ben Johnson and bringing in new coach Niko Medved from Colorado State, and also the fact that majority of our players either went into the transfer portal or graduated.

I would like to highlight three players who did stay with the Gophers this year, Isaac Asuma being one of them. Then there’s Grayson Grove and Erick Reader. These three, I had the pleasure to talk to today. They’re all super, super excited to continue being Gophers and they’re really excited for the next season and to continue working under Medved as well as kind of introducing these new guys to the state of Minnesota and preparing them for those cold winters.

Which kind of leads into the next story that I’m writing, which is about some of the new players on our men’s basketball team. I’m not reporting on all of them, but there are a couple that I am talking about. Chance Stephens and Cade Tyson, I also had the pleasure of talking to those guys today. They’re excited to be Gophers. 

You know, it seems like the continuing, kind of like, red thread between all of this, between the people who stayed and the people who came was Medved, and talking to him and the values that this new coaching staff has. And it seems like this team is ready to win and not just ready to win, but ready to thrive and go farther than the Gophers have seen their men’s basketball team go in a lot of years. 

The last thing we’re gonna talk about today is not about Gopher sports, but it is about an article that I wrote last week, and it is about Mark Hulsey and Moses Cooper. Mark Hulsey is a competitive runner who has ran multiple different marathons throughout the U.S. and also on international levels.

He also does work with myTeam Triumph in Minnesota. And what myTeam Triumph is, it’s an organization that allows children, teens and adults and veterans who have disabilities to lead the team and experience endurance races, they are captains while the person who is pushing them or pulling them are called angels.

So in this case, Mark is Moses’ angel. Mark’s goal was to make it to a marathon with his captain. This is a goal that has been achieved by people in the past, like Dick Hoyt and Rick Hoyt. Who, Dick Hoyt pushed his son, Rick Hoyt, who had Cerebral Palsy in many races, including marathons. 

And they kind of built up this recognition for disabilities in sports and specifically disabilities and running, and that’s kind of what, you know, gave the inspiration to Mark to be able to do this. And it’s not something that has been seen in the Minnesota Team Triumph kind of  organization yet, but everyone was super supportive, including Moses Cooper and his mom.

And so Mark and Moses have been a team ever since. With Moses being his captain, Mark being his angel. They were recently gifted a new racing chair, which is quite incredible. A lot of people are cheering them on and supporting them through this process, and they are ready to go and try to qualify for Boston.

I think this article is just an important read because it proves that, you know, people are still fighting hard for inclusion, disability inclusion in sports, and they wanna make sure that people like Moses are able to have the support and have the opportunities that myTeam Triumph is giving him.

And yeah, I just think that this kind of stuff is important. It’s important to look at sports in Minnesota and not just Gopher sports, but general sports and see that the community is as strong as ever and that people are excited to support one another. 

That being said, that’s all I have for you guys today. Stay tuned for further Gold Standards throughout the summer months. Thank you for listening, and if you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can drop them in our email inbox at podcasting@mndaily.com.

I’m Regan Guirguis, and this has been The Gold Standard.

Mark Hulsey is a competitive runner who competes on both the national and international levels. However, the work he does with myTeam Triumph brings him the most joy. 

Team Triumph is an organization that allows children, teens, adults and veterans with disabilities to lead a team and experience endurance races. They are the “Captains” of the team who are being pushed or pulled by “Angels.”

Hulsey is an Angel who volunteers to push his racing partner, Moses Cooper, a Captain who has Cerebral Palsy. The two have seen a lot of success together. 

On June 8, the two raced at the Unified 5K where they were gifted a customized running chair by Hoyt Running Chairs and AdaptX. The design is based off of The Flash from DC comics, a character that Cooper loves. 

Hulsey made a goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon with Team Triumph. That is how he met Cooper. 

The two met last summer and were introduced at an RBC Race For The Kids event where they shared the same goal.

“I fell in love with Mo, and we got along famously,” Hulsey said. “At the end of the race (Cooper’s mom) said, ‘We want to do this with you,’ and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The two are going to try and qualify for Boston at Grandma’s Marathon weekend from June 19-21. 

Hulsey said there were three main goals he had when working with Minnesota Team Triumph.

“My goal here was one, bring an opportunity to a family. Number two, bring awareness to Minnesota Team Triumph. On a more global nature, bring awareness to disability inclusion in sports,” Hulsey said.  

Hulsey attributed Dick Hoyt for the beginning of this inclusion. Dick pushed his son, Rick Hoyt, who had Cerebral Palsy in many races, including marathons. 

Hulsey said that the Hoyts were the ones who really put all of this on the map. 

“The legacy is with the Hoyts, and Dick Hoyt,” Hulsey said. “There is a Hoyt foundation, and Hoyt racing chairs.” 

The Hoyt racing chairs are what both Cooper and Hulsey were gifted at the Unified 5K. Both Dick and Rick have passed. 

Hulsey added that their chair is really meant for racing. He also said that when Cooper and he are done using the chair, he will pass it forward to Team Triumph.   

One of Hulsey’s dreams from this awareness is to hopefully see Minnesota Team Triumph grow.

“I want to see us have a waiting list,” Hulsey said. “We need more disabled athletes, more special needs athletes to join Minnesota Team Triumph because we have so many volunteer runners.” 

He said he doesn’t just want to see it in Minnesota, but every Team Triumph around the nation.  

“There are a handful of people like me who all have the same goal,” Hulsey said. “So that we can make disabled inclusion in posting events normal and natural.”

The Gophers soccer team is preparing for the 2025 season after finishing last season with an overall record of 14-5-3. 

The team saw a lot of success last season, making it to the third round of the NCAA tournament before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina.

“I think that having a season like that is really encouraging for our group,” junior Paige Kalal said. “To see that we are capable of getting far in the tournament and dealing with having pressure on us.”

Kalal had a successful 2024 season with a total of two goals and 10 assists. She was ranked second in the conference for assists and eighth in the country. 

One dilemma that every college team faces is graduation. The Gophers lost a couple of their influential players at the end of last season, such as Sophia Boman and Khyah Harper.

Harper ended her Gophers career with 19 goals and 17 assists. After spending her first three years dealing with injuries, Harper transformed her career with just one season. 

Harper finished her senior year as a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist, winning Big Ten Forward of the Year and scoring the 9th most goals in the nation. 

Harper totaled 40 points in the 2024 season. Fueled by multiple hat-tricks, Harper finished the season with 17 goals and six assists.  

Boman played four seasons with the Gophers and totaled 23 goals and 12 assists. She was the team captain for her final two years and was a part of the All-Big Ten First Team. 

Gophers goalkeeper Sarah Martin talked about how the team is still figuring out how to fill the gaps without those players. 

“I don’t think they can be fully replaced,” Martin said. “I guess you don’t realize what kind of roles that they all play until they are gone.” 

Gophers junior Kate Childers said everything is a bit quieter at the start of spring practice. 

“You don’t hear those upperclassmen, those big vocal presences,” Childers said. “I think it has been cool to see throughout the spring people slowly starting to get more confidence, and all of us talking more.” 

Martin, Childers and Kalal will all be going into their third season with the Gophers in 2025. They talked about what it is like preparing to get into a leadership role and help guide the rising freshman. 

“We have talked about, off the field, what it means to actually hold each other to the right standards in the weight room,” Martin said. “The energy that we bring and what we talk about off the field. 

Martin said the spring helps prepare them to build relationships over the summer with the new players. The team’s first game will be an exhibition game on August 9 against South Dakota

Gophers men’s basketball coach Niko Medved will have five assistant coaches going into the 2025-2026 season. 

In early April, Medved announced three new assistant coaches. The first being Brian Cooley, who coached with Medved for four years at Colorado State from 2021 to 2025. 

He helped the Rams get to three NCAA tournament berths.

Before coaching at Colorado, Cooley spent six years at Wright State, where he spent the last four years as an associate head coach. Cooley brought the program to an overall record of 109-49, three conference championships and an NCAA tournament in 2018. 

He also spent nine seasons at South Dakota State University and went to the NCAA tournament three times. 

Cooley was just the first added to Medved’s staff, Armon Gates will also be seen on the sidelines during the 2025-2026 season. Gates has coached for a total of 14 seasons in his career so far. 

Gates was most recently at Oklahoma for a two-year tenure and helped the team to an NCAA tournament berth in 2025. Gates also spent time coaching three other Big Ten schools. 

He was at Oregon for the 2022-2023 season and spent four years as an assistant coach at Nebraska. Before being with the Huskers, Gates coached at Northwestern for five seasons. 

Gates helped the Wildcats tally a pair of 20-win seasons and brought the team to their first ever NCAA tournament in program history back in 2017. 

Medved is also bringing back assistant coach Dave Thorson, who will now have been with the Gophers for five seasons. Medved and Thorson also coached together for three years from 2018 to 2021 at Colorado State.

Later in April, Medved announced two new assistant coaches, Chad Warner and Aaron Katsuma. 

Chad Warner was with Furman University for the past three years, where he started off as an assistant coach and was then promoted to associate coach. In his last season with Furman, the team finished with a 25-10 record, went to the Southern Conference Championship title game and earned a trip to the National Invitation Tournament. 

Prior to Furman, Warner spent five seasons as head coach at Flagler College and eight seasons as head coach at Shorter University. Warner’s time as head coach at Shorter led the program to 156 victories. 

Warner’s 13 seasons as head coach at two different schools led to an overall personal record of 228-154. 

Katsuma is another assistant coach added to the roster this year. Katsuma is finally returning to his alma mater in Minnesota. Prior he worked at New Mexico for two years and helped them to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.

He is also reuniting with Medved after working together for six seasons. The two both worked at Colorado State together and spent one year at Drake together as the director of basketball operations and recruiting. 

Katsuma graduated from Minnesota in 2014 with a degree in sports management. He was also a manager with the Gophers from 2010-2014.

The Gophers rowing team ended their season in seventh place in the 2025 Big Ten Conference Rowing Championships. 

After a successful season leading up to the championship, the team traveled to Florida for the Big Ten invitationals in mid-April. At the end of the invitational, the Gophers claimed two first place finishes. 

The team’s third Varsity Four boat won against rivals Wisconsin and Iowa. In the final race of the regatta, the Gophers earned another win with their Second Novice Eight boat in a close 10-second victory. 

Gophers junior and captain Manon Field said she can see the commitment to the work being put into the team. 

“I think compared to two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, we are taking steps in the right direction,” Field said. “I think a lot of our teammates are committed to the team, not just this year but going forward.

Field said it feels like they are building something bigger than just this year’s team. 

At the Big Ten championships, the Gophers scored a total of 127 points built off of the performance from their many different boats. However, the overall best performance from the Gophers at the championship was when the First Varsity Four race crew made a time of 7:06.390.

Their time earned them a fifth place finish in the event and gave Minnesota 21 points. 

Gophers head coach Alicea Strodel said she saw a lot of growth and was really proud of her team’s performance this year.

“We are not finishing last,” Strodel said. “Every year we are improving on this team, we are getting more points as a team.” 

Both Strodel and Field mentioned the difficulty they face when practicing an outdoor sport in Minnesota. The rowing team practices year-round, which includes the winter months when the rivers and lakes freeze up. 

Frozen waters mean the team does a lot of indoor training when they aren’t able to get outside. 

Strodel said it is important to remember that every school has their challenges, and it doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits from training inside. 

“There is a training benefit, an aerobic benefit, a strength benefit that we get by being on the rowing machines and being indoors,” Strodel said. 

Field said next season she hopes the team just keeps moving up. 

“The goal is always Big Ten, that’s the big mark,” Field said. “We would love to see us move up again from seventh place to maybe six, fifth, or fourth and keep it going.”

The Gophers rowing team ended their season in seventh place in the 2025 Big Ten Conference Rowing Championships. 

After a successful season leading up to the championship, the team traveled to Florida for the Big Ten invitationals in mid-April. At the end of the invitational, the Gophers claimed two first place finishes. 

The team’s third Varsity Four boat won against rivals Wisconsin and Iowa. In the final race of the regatta, the Gophers earned another win with their Second Novice Eight boat in a close 10-second victory. 

Gophers junior and captain Manon Field said she can see the commitment to the work being put into the team. 

“I think compared to two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, we are taking steps in the right direction,” Field said. “I think a lot of our teammates are committed to the team, not just this year but going forward.

Field said it feels like they are building something bigger than just this year’s team. 

At the Big Ten championships, the Gophers scored a total of 127 points built off of the performance from their many different boats. However, the overall best performance from the Gophers at the championship was when the First Varsity Four race crew made a time of 7:06.390.

Their time earned them a fifth place finish in the event and gave Minnesota 21 points. 

Gophers head coach Alicea Strodel said she saw a lot of growth and was really proud of her team’s performance this year.

“We are not finishing last,” Strodel said. “Every year we are improving on this team, we are getting more points as a team.” 

Both Strodel and Field mentioned the difficulty they face when practicing an outdoor sport in Minnesota. The rowing team practices year-round, which includes the winter months when the rivers and lakes freeze up. 

Frozen waters mean the team does a lot of indoor training when they aren’t able to get outside. 

Strodel said it is important to remember that every school has their challenges, and it doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits from training inside. 

“There is a training benefit, an aerobic benefit, a strength benefit that we get by being on the rowing machines and being indoors,” Strodel said. 

Field said next season she hopes the team just keeps moving up. 

“The goal is always Big Ten, that’s the big mark,” Field said. “We would love to see us move up again from seventh place to maybe six, fifth, or fourth and keep it going.”