Two days after Niko Medved left Colorado State to become the new head men’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota, CSU has found his replacement without looking very far.

Former assistant Ali Farokhmanesh has been promoted to become the 21st head coach of the CSU men’s basketball team, the school announced Wednesday night.

“I want to thank President Amy Parsons, John Weber, Scott Sidwell, and Christina Diaz for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be the head coach at Colorado State,” Farokhmanesh said in a news release. “Serving under Coach Medved has been a privilege, and I will forever be grateful to him for bringing me to Fort Collins.

“This university and state are special because of the great people. I am grateful for all who have been so welcoming and supportive of me and my family during our time here and look forward to continuing to grow those bonds in our community. I can’t wait to continue to build off the championship foundation our players have established and push it to greater heights.”

Farokhmanesh came to Fort Collins from Drake, where he was also an assistant coach under Medved for a season. Before Drake, he worked as a graduate assistant and then director of player relations and development at Nebraska.

His coaching career follows a storied playing career at Northern Iowa. He helped UNI to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first-ever Sweet 16. He hit one of the most memorable shots in March Madness history to send the Panthers to the Sweet 16 in 2010 with his fastbreak 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to knock off top-seed Kansas.

He went on to play four years of professional basketball in Europe, competing for teams in the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

Farokhmanesh received his degree in finance from UNI in 2010 and earned his master’s degree in educational administration from Nebraska in 2016.

“I am thrilled that Ali will continue leading our men’s basketball program, now as head coach,” CSU director of athletics John Weber said in the release. “Ali has a relentless attitude that he attacks each day with, which was important to us as we looked for the next leader of our men’s basketball program.

“There has been significant interest in the head coach position at Colorado State. After an extremely comprehensive and competitive national search, Ali’s continued leadership of this program is important and really excites me. His ability to connect with people has made him successful throughout his career.”

Over the past four seasons, Farokhmanesh has played a key role in developing NBA talents David Roddy, Isaiah Stevens and Nique Clifford at CSU. That trio, along with Nico Carvacho, have combined to produce the longest active streak of first team All-Mountain West selections, standing at seven years.

During his seven years as an assistant, he helped the Rams to three NCAA Tournament appearances (2022, 2024, 2025) and to the semifinals of the NIT in 2021.

CSU went 143-85 in seven seasons under Medved with Farokhmanesh by his side. The Rams most recently went 26-10 overall and 16-4 in the Mountain West Conference. They won the Mountain West tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they were eliminated by Maryland on Sunday.

A press conference has been scheduled to introduce Farokhmanesh at 11 a.m. Friday at Moby Arena.