Niko Medved leaves Drake for Colorado State

Former Colorado State assistant coach Niko Medved is returning to Fort Collins to lead the Rams men's basketball program after spending a year as Drake's head coach.

Medved replaces Larry Eustachy, who stepped down last month, ending a "climate assessment" of the program led by athletic director Joe Parker.

Eustachy, who was 122-79 in five-plus seasons at Colorado State, is on paid leave until June 30, at which time he'll formally resign.

Medved was an assistant coach at Colorado State from 2007-13 before spending four years as head coach at Furman and then leading Drake last season to its first postseason berth in six years. He is a University of Minnesota alum and was on Clem Haskins' staff as a student manager in the 1990s.

Parker welcomed Medved back to Fort Collins, saying, "Throughout our discussions, he showed a great understanding of what basketball means to Colorado State University and the community while demonstrating how much he has developed in his five years as a head coach."

Drake athletic director Brian Hardin said: "We are disappointed by this news but remain excited and confident about the trajectory of the Drake men's basketball program."

Hardin asked Dave Thorson to serve as interim head coach while a national search is conducted to find Medved's replacement.

Dan Hurley became a hot commodity after coaching Rhode Island to two straight NCAA tournaments. On Thursday, he left for a bigger name in New England basketball.

He joined a UConn team that has won four NCAA titles in 20 years but is under NCAA investigation and just finished a second straight losing season. The school fired coach Kevin Ollie this month.

Hurley was 113-82 in six seasons with the Rams, who went 26-8 this year before losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Duke. It was the second straight trip to the tournament for the Rams, who won their first regular-season Atlantic-10 championship.

The 45-year-old Hurley, who is the brother of Arizona State coach Bob Hurley, agreed to a six-year deal.

UConn is trying to terminate Ollie's contract "with cause," which would save the school from having to pay the more than $10 million left on the five-year deal that expires in 2021.

• Boston Celtics assistant Walter McCarty is Evansville's new coach. McCarty is returning to his southern Indiana hometown, where he was a high school star. He played on Kentucky's 1996 NCAA championship team and had a 10-year NBA career.