Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle left the scorers table at the NCAA tournament game between Iowa State and Mississippi in Milwaukee on Sunday night. His prospective new men’s basketball coach, Niko Medved and Colorado State were going down the wire against Maryland in Seattle.

From a quiet room inside Fiserv Forum, the Rams took a lead in the final seconds, and Coyle’s daughter Grace asked, “What are we going to do” if Colorado State won and advanced to the Sweet 16?

“I was cheering for Colorado State because I wanted them to win,” Coyle said Tuesday. “But I said, ‘We are waiting.’ Grace Coyle had a good scoop. We were going to wait until they finished their tournament.”

Maryland hit the first buzzer-beater of March Madness seconds later and Grace’s question was moot. Medved was available to sign with Minnesota, and he was introduced at a news conference Tuesday on the U’s practice facility court.

Coyle moved quickly toward a new coach after firing Ben Johnson on March 13. He talked with Medved when the Rams were going into the Mountain West region and through the first round NCAA Tournament win over Memphis.

“I can tell you in my early conversations with Niko, I felt we were in a really, really good spot,” Coyle said.

Medved and the school have agreed to a six-year deal that still requires approval from the Board of Regents.

Coyle prides himself on personally making coaching hires with some help from other U staffers. He keeps lists of candidates and doesn’t use search firms.

“We started to work on lists in February, early March,” Coyle said.

On the day Johnson was fired, Coyle immediately heard from other coaches’ agents. But were there other serious candidates?

“In terms of how many people we talked to, it was a very focused group,” Coyle said.

Thoughts on The Barn

From afar, Medved has heard “knocks” on the nearly 100-year-old Williams Arena, but he doesn’t buy that The Barn makes it tough to win at the U.

“I think we can turn that into a strength of the program,” he said. “Everybody is talking about, ’This is the problem.’ I think it can be a strength. I think it’s one of the most historic venues in all of college basketball. Have you been to Phog Allen (Fieldhouse in Kansas)? Have you been to Cameron Indoor Stadium?

“Now, sure, down the road, are there enhancements you might have to make and to try to modernize it? Yeah.”

Scheduling St. Thomas

Johnson did not want to play St. Thomas, and the U never played the Tommies after it jumped from NCAA Division III into Division I in 2021.

Medved, however, said he is “open” to that.

“I’m a competitive guy; it would be fun,” he said. “If you play St. Thomas, you’d better buckle up because they are really good. I can see that happening at some point.”

NIL on repeat

Medved faced multiple questions about name, image and likeness (NIL) funding and revenue sharing coming on line for players starting next season. One reporter said he would spare him another question on the topic.

“Listen, that is all we talk about,” Medved said. “It’s death, taxes, coaches talking about NIL.”

Earlier in the Q&A, Medved said he believes more money is needed in that space and that the U and boosters can provide what is necessary. But he also said he can find ways to win when he won’t have as much as his new Big Ten competitors.

Unnamed rivals

Medved grew up a Gophers fan in Roseville, so he knows the importance of the rivalries with Iowa and Wisconsin. But he didn’t name them Tuesday.

“I look forward to seeing The Barn packed,” he said. “A big game, maybe against a rival, OK, down south, down east and finding a way to pull it out, having our fans celebrate, seeing ourselves back in the NCAA Tournament.”

Staff coming together

Dave Thorson, who was on Ben Johnson’s staff after he worked with Medved at Colorado State and Drake, is expected to remain on the U staff. He gave a thumbs up to Medved when informally asked during the news conference.

One of Medved’s assistants with the Rams, Brian Cooley, and his director of player development, Joe De Ciman, are two other candidates to join Minnesota.

Colorado State’s associate head coach Ali Farokhmanesh is now the Rams’ interim head coach and expected to be named the permanent head coach.

Briefly

Former Gophers forward Frank Mitchell committed to St. Bonaventure on Tuesday; the Canadian entered the portal after Johnson’s firing. … Many Gophers players from last year’s team watched Medved’s news conference, and the most important player to retain is Isaac Asuma, the Cherry, Minn., guard coming off a promising freshman season. … Senior forward Parker Fox played the majority of last season through a meniscus injury in his knee. He will now have surgery on it. He dealt with that on top of a back issue and still played in all 32 games. … P.J. Fleck and the entire football coaching staff was in attendance. Fleck and Medved chatted after the news conference. … Volleyball coach Keegan Cook and women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit also were spotted.

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Minnesota United midfielder Hassani Dotson will undergo surgery on his right knee on Wednesday.

“Until the surgery is complete, it’s difficult to say … how many months it will be,” head coach Eric Ramsay said Tuesday. “Based on what I heard this morning, it could be a pretty stark difference between one outcome and another.”

Dotson has suffered a meniscus injury, sources told the Pioneer Press, and Ramsay’s comments are in line with the an assessment of the damage seen during the surgery and whether Dotson will have a trim or a repair.

Dotson, a 27-year-old who will be a free agent at the end of the year, would likely take the repair route, which would mean a longer absence from the Loons. It’s the same knee Dotson tore his anterior cruciate ligament in during the 2022 season.

In January, Dotson requested a trade after his agents and the club were unable to come to an agreement on a contract extension.

Dotson was injured in the first half of the 2-2 draw with Los Angeles Galaxy at Allianz Field on Saturday. He grabbed his knee after contact with Gabriel Pec in the 34th minute, but remained in the match. He then jumped for a ball later in the half, but landed awkwardly and subbed out of the game in the 42nd minute.

Dotson has started all five games in central midfield this season and played 374 out of 450 total minutes. Will Trapp, Joaquin, Pereyra, Robin Lod, Owen Gene, Hoyeon Jung and Joseph Rosales could see their roles increase or shift with Dotson’s prolonged absence.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned a former business partner of Hunter Biden who was convicted of participating in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe.

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Devon Archer later became a key figure in the congressional inquiry into the Biden family businesses, telling lawmakers behind closed doors that the younger Biden sold the “illusion of access” to his father.

Before signing the pardon, Trump said Archer was treated “very unfairly.” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the “tone and tenor” of the prosecution changed after Archer began to cooperate with congressional investigators in the Biden family inquiry.

Archer was convicted in 2018 in a scheme to defraud the tribe that involved the sale of bonds. His conviction was overturned later that year before the court of appeals in New York reinstated it in 2020. He was sentenced in 2022 to a year in prison.

Archer has denied any wrongdoing and called himself a “victim of financial fraud.” In a Fox News appearance on Monday, Archer said of the potential pardon: “I didn’t think I’d need this because I never did anything.”

Archer testified before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee in 2023 as GOP lawmakers tried to make the case for impeachment proceedings against President Biden. Archer told the committee that President Biden was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter would often put his father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates.

Archer’s testimony portrayed the president’s son as capitalizing on his father’s name, but not necessarily promising or delivering any influence that would rise to a questionable level or approach wrongdoing. At one point, Archer was asked point blank: “Are you aware of any wrongdoing by Vice President Biden?”

He responded, “No, I’m not aware of any.”

Hunter Biden was convicted last year in two separate cases of federal gun and tax charges. President Biden pardoned his son shortly before he left office, reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

Matt Borgschulte spent his winter familiarizing himself with Twins’ hitters, which meant staying in a guest house in rural Baxley, Ga., attending a toddler’s jiu-jitsu class in Houston and sampling Canadian delicacies in Québec City.

The Twins’ new hitting coach paid visits to Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Edouard Julien this offseason. A planned trip to the Dallas-area to visit Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach was scuttled because of the weather.

Video chats and text messages helped him build relationships with other Twins hitters. It was all part of his way to acquaint — or re-acquaint — himself with the Twins’ roster after being hired to lead the Twins’ hitting group in October.

After a late collapse caused in part by their inconsistent offense, the Twins turned to Borgschulte, previously a coach within their minor league system, and he has made a strong impression in the clubhouse this spring.

“He’s a guy that’s really good at taking players and looking at them and breaking down what they specifically need to improve,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s the opposite of a one-size fits all mentality, and he’s got a very good eye and he’s got a very good way of communicating. … He’s going to tell you what you need to here to get you ready to go play Major League Baseball.”

Borgschulte coached Twins minor leaguers from 2018-21, working with current players such as Ryan Jeffers, Jose Miranda, Lewis and Larnach. He was a finalist for the Twins’ major league position in 2021 but the Twins ultimately went with David Popkins.

Borgshschulte quickly landed a job as the Baltimore Orioles’ co-hitting coach that offseason, where he had the opportunity to work with some of the game’s best up-and-coming players for the past three seasons, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman among them. The Orioles were among the top hitting teams in the majors last year, finishing second in home runs, fourth in team OPS and fourth in runs scored.

Borgschulte described that experience as “walking into a gold mine,” with the talent and culture that he inherited in Baltimore. He now has brought everything he learned with the Orioles back to the Twins, who let go of their entire major league hitting group — Popkins, Derek Shomon and Rudy Hernandez — after last year’s late meltdown.

During camp, Borgschulte oversaw a restructured batting practice wherein players had specific focuses — first hitting the ball to the opposite field, then hitting line drives, before moving on in later rounds — as opposed to just free swinging at slow batting practice pitches thrown right down the middle.

“We have to be really disciplined in what we’re trying to do at the plate,” Borgschulte said. “We think that’s just going to allow us to be as adjustable as we can so we can have success in all kinds of different scenarios and situations that may come up.”

Borgschulte, Lewis said, is an “all-encompassing” coach who works with everybody independently to their own strengths but also lays out a general plan for the team so that they can attack pitchers “nine on one,” an approach Jeffers mentioned, as well.

The third baseman, who worked with Borgschulte as a minor leaguer, said he can tell that the coach has grown exponentially as both a coach and a person because of his time in Baltimore. Though he’s stepping in for Popkins, who was a popular coach in the Twins’ clubhouse, Jeffers said, “Sometimes it’s really good to have fresh eyes.”

“I think he kind of blends the swing mechanics and all that stuff,” Jeffers said of Borgschulte. “(He) kind of can blend that with more of ‘How do you grit down and really grind it out at the plate?’ He’s got a good balance between all of that.”

After a spring of getting to know the Twins’ roster — and vice versa — the goal is that those relationships Borgschulte has spent months building will help the coach get the most out of the group.

“Everyone has people that help them be the best they can possibly be,” Borgschulte said. “I just want to be a part of that team and use all the resources we can to help them be the best player. That’s kind of how I tried to approach it coming in is getting to know everybody and working on setting up goals … and try to keep everything pointed in that direction.”