Now we can start to speculate as to who he will bring with him...
Meet the Coaches
The Rams coaching staff is confident that Ram Fans will be proud of the achievements by the team this year and in years to come!
Tim Miles
Head Coach, 2007 - Present
Contact Tim
"My job is to come in and establish a winning mentality in our basketball program," states Miles. "That means we're going to win outside hanging out with the students, we're going to win in the classroom when it comes to grades and we're going to win on the basketball floor."
With a winning attitude and a smile Coach Miles is rebuilding the Rams. His personality draws fans and student-athletes alike to him. His attitude is apparent in the feats that sprinkle through his resume.
Despite a rough first season full of injuries and just one returning starter, Miles led the Rams to an early season championship at the Top of the World Classic tournament in Fairbanks, Alaska. In addition, the Rams finished the season at the annual Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas where they beat Wyoming before falling to the No. 1 seed, BYU.
With 16 years of experience as a head coach at four institutions, he has compiled a career record of 263-208 that includes three conference championships and four national tournament appearances.
While establishing a tradition of winning in college basketball, Miles' philosophy extends far beyond the basketball court. He and his staff are committed to academics and the success of their student-athletes in the classroom." It is essential that our players realize the value of their education at CSU," Miles said. "Academics is our top priority. We also want to represent this program, this university, and this community in a first-class manner at all times."
Miles, and his wife, Kari, reside in Fort Collins with their Daughter Ava, and son Gabriel.
Honors:
- Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, CollegeInsider.com, 2010
- University of Mary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2007
- Division I Independent Coach of the Year, CBS Sportsline, 2005-06
- Finalist for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, 2005-06
- North Central Region Coach of the Year at Southwest Minnesota State, 2000-01
- Northern Sun Conference Coach of the Year at Southwest Minnesota State, 2000-01
- National Coach of the Month, (Division II Bulletin), December 2000
- NDCAC Coach of the Year, 1996
Niko Medved
Assistant Coach, 2007 - Present
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Niko Medved returns to the Rams for his fifth season as an assistant coach. During the 2007-08 season, Medved filled a key role for the Rams, serving as CSU's recruiting coordinator. During the season, he had scouting responsibilities and worked with the guards. Medved was a key bench coach for the Rams last season. This season, Medved will also serve as the Rams' director of player development.
Prior to joining Colorado State, Medved spent the previous season at the University of Minnesota. He was involved in all aspects of the program, including recruiting, scouting, player development and fundraising.
Preceding his year in Minnesota, he spent seven seasons as an assistant for Furman University. Medved served as the interim head coach in the spring of 2006. During his tenure the Paladins had the highest scoring freshman class in the country.
Medved started his career at the University of Minnesota in 1992 when he was a student manager and spent one year as a student assistant. He also worked four years as an instructor at the prestigious Nike All-America camp.
Medved completed his B.S. in kinesiology in 1997 and his master's in sport management in 1999. While attending graduate school, he spent two seasons as the associate head coach at Division III Macalester College.
A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended Roseville Area High School and was a two-sport standout in both basketball and golf. Medved, and his wife Erica, make their home in Fort Collins.
Coach Miles on Niko: "Niko is a young man that knows the game inside and out. He's a great recruiter and is extremely well organized. He's been a phenomenal addition to our staff."
Craig Smith
Assisant Coach, 2007 - Present
Contact Craig
Craig Smith returns to the sidelines for his 5th season with the Rams. Smith will work primarily with the 4s and 5s, be heavily involved with scouting and game preparation along with sharing recruiting responsibilities.
In three seasons as head men’s basketball coach at Mayville State University, Smith compiled a record of 72-29 while advancing to three straight NAIA II national tournaments, including a trip to the NAIA II national championship game in 2007.
In his first season as a head coach in 2004-05, Smith resurrected a program that had only won a single game prior to his arrival and immediately earned a berth in the NAIA II national tournament. Smith followed that up in 2005-06 with a 28-6 mark, setting a record for most wins in school history while winning MSU’s first ever Dakota Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships. MSU advanced all the way to the national quarterfinals before losing to the eventual national champions. In 2006-07 MSU finished with a 27-9 record under Smith’s leadership, winning MSU’s second consecutive DAC regular season and tournament championships while advancing all the way to the NAIA II national championship game. Mayville’s run to the national championship game marked the first time any men’s basketball team from North Dakota had ever played for a national title.
Smith was named the NAIA II National Coach of the Year in 2007. He was also named Dakota Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Smith’s MSU teams were characterized by their hard work and first-class attitude on and off the court. Mayville State’s 2006-07 team was honored and recognized nationally with the Dr. James Naismith-Emil Liston Sportsmanship Award.
A native of Stephen, Minn., Smith began his collegiate coaching career at Mayville State University during the 1996-97 season. An assistant to then-Mayville State coach Tim Miles, MSU went 18-11, won the regular season NDCAC title and the conference postseason tournament before advancing to the NAIA II national tournament.
Prior to MSU, Smith worked as a graduate assistant at Northern State University during the 1997-98 season, followed by time at Minot State University as an assistant coach for three years, and then as an assistant coach under Miles at North Dakota State University.
Smith is a 1996 graduate of the University of North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. He earned his master’s degree from Northern State in teaching and learning. Smith and his wife Darcy have three boys and a daughter – Landon (10), Brady (8), Carson (5), and Lauren (1).
Coach Miles on Craig: "Craig is an outstanding coach. I've hired him three times and there is a reason for that. I believe in the way he conducts himself, he's an excellent recruiter and schematically, he's really a good tactician when it comes to basketball."
Ron Coleman
Assistant Coach, 2011 - Present
Ron Coleman begins his first season with the Rams as an assistant coach. Coleman will work with the guards, be involved in scouting and game preparation along with sharing recruiting responsibilities.
Coleman, a former collegiate standout at Weber State University and Lamar University, joins the Colorado State staff after serving as a top prep and AAU basketball coach in his native Chicago.
"I feel like we hit a home run with Ron joining CSU basketball," said Miles. "He was valuable part of the storied tradition of Illinois high school basketball in recent years. He comes from two great programs: Mac Irvin Fire in AAU basketball and Whitney M. Young, which he helped into a national power in the high school ranks. He is an excellent coach and teacher of the game. He will model the right things for our student-athletes. We are very excited to add Ron to CSU basketball.
A 1992 graduate of Chicago's South Shore Career Academy, Coleman continued his basketball playing career at Weber State, where he saw action in 25 games for the Wildcats as a true freshman during the 1992-93 season. While at WSU, Coleman averaged 8.9 points and 3.3 assists per game while helping the team to a 20-8 record and earning Big Sky Conference Co-Freshman of the Year honors.
Coleman transferred to Lamar University as a sophomore and after sitting out the 1993-94 season (per NCAA transfer rules), he led the Cardinals to a very successful three-year stretch from 1994-97, earning three consecutive first-team all-Sun Belt Conference nods as LU's leading scorer each season, and ranking among the program's top-10 career scorers with 1,316 points in 81 career games.
Coleman earned his degree from Lamar, a bachelor's of applied arts and science, in May of 1997, and began a seven-year professional playing career that saw the 6-4 guard play stints domestically with the NBA's Houston Rockets and the Grand Rapids Hoops of the Continental Basketball Association. Coleman also played overseas in Finland and in the top league in Latvia before returning to the United States to coach in the high school and AAU ranks in talent-rich Chicago.
Since 2005, Coleman has been the head coach of Chicago's AAU Mac Irvin Fire, developing the squad into one of the top AAU programs in the country. Coleman's team earned top-3 overall finishes at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in 2009-10. While coaching the Fire, Coleman has developed some of the top prep players in the country, including four McDonald's All-Americans, four Illinois Players of the Year, and 15 players that participated in the NBA Players Association Top-100 camp and the LeBron James Skills Academy between 2007 and 2010.
Coleman has also had much success in the high school coaching ranks in Chicago, first as the head coach at Benjamin E. Mays Academy (2006-07) and most recently the associate head coach at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.
At Mays, he led the program to a 35-0 season, taking home top honors as the District 299 City Championship before moving to national power Whitney M. Young as the associate head coach. From 2007-11, he helped guide the program to four consecutive national top-25 finishes, and earned an Illinois state championship during the 2008-09 season.
At Young, Coleman was directly responsible for preseason and postseason workouts, and player skill development, polishing the skills of several highly touted collegiate recruits and helping 11 players - Stan Brown (Lamar), Chris Colvin (Iowa State/Arizona State), Luke Hager (UNC-Wilmington), Brian Hall (Northern Illinois), Anthony Johnson (Purdue), Marcus Jordan (Central Florida), Kwai Pearson (UC-Bakersfield), James Reynolds (Rice), A.J. Rompza (Central Florida), Ahmad Starks (Oregon State), and Sam Thompson (Ohio State) – earn NCAA DI scholarships over the past three seasons.
In addition to his work at the prep level, Coleman has trained and developed several of the world's top basketball players, most recently working with Shawn Marion of the Dallas Mavericks leading up to the franchise's 2011 NBA Championship.
Coach Miles on Ron: "I feel like we hit a home run with Ron joining CSU basketball. He was a valuable part of the storied tradition of Illinois high school basketball in recent years. He comes from two great programs: Mac Irvin Fire in AAU basketball and Whitney M. Young, which he helped into a national power in the high school ranks. He is an excellent coach and teacher of the game. He will model the right things for our student-athletes. We are very excited to add Ron to CSU basketball."
Jayden Olson
Director of Basketball Operations, 2010 - Present
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Jayden Olson returns to the Rams staff in 2011-12, this season as Director of Basketball Operations following one year as the Video Coordinator.
Olson, a native of Beulah, N.D., joins the Rams staff after a very successful three-year stint as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division II Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. While at Augustana, Olson helped guide the Vikings to a 67-26 record, including three appearances in the NCAA tournament, and recruited back-to-back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Freshman of the Year award winners in 2009 and 2010.
Prior to his arrival at Augustana, Olson spent two seasons (2005-07) as a graduate assistant coach at the University of North Dakota, where he earned his master's degree in kinesiology.
A 2003 graduate of Dickinson State, Olson received bachelor's degrees in physical education and business education. At Dickinson State, Olson was captain of the basketball team and earned academic All-America honors, and was also a member of the Blue Hawks' golf team. Out of high school, Olson played for two seasons at Williston State College (ND), where he returned for two season as an assistant coach from 2003-2005.
Coach Miles on Jayden: "Jayden will be a valuable addition to the Rams as our 'DOBO.' He is hard working, very well organized and has tremendous rapport with our players and staff members inside and outside the CSU athletic department. Jayden has been part of winning programs throughout his playing and coaching careers and knows what it takes to be successful. I am looking forward to working with Jayden in this role for CSU basketball."
T_O_B
G>B>R
