Students and staff at CSU who were already navigating a devastating loss in the NCAA Tournament were dealt a second blow as Head Coach Niko Medved announced he is leaving the men's basketball program.

Niko Medved set a new standard at Colorado State and now Rams fans and CSU administration must help keep the momentum moving forward.

Colorado State hired Niko Medved's top assistant to replace him as basketball coach following a quick 24-hour search. Ali Farokhmanesh, 36, was promoted Wednesday evening after Medved left earlier this week.

The search for Niko Medved’s replacement as head coach of the CSU men’s basketball team took all of 48 hours to come to a conclusion.

Farokhmanesh was announced as the new coach on Wednesday after former head coach Niko Medved left Colorado to take a role at the University of Minnesota. According to CSU, Farokhmanesh has spent the past seven seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at CSU.

Here is a look at potential candidates to replace Niko Medved as Colorado State men's basketball coach, with some familiar names leading the list.

Colorado State University men's basketball coach Niko Medved is leaving CSU to be the next coach of the Golden Gophers, sources told CBS Sports.

SEATTLE — Niko Medved is a hot commodity. "We're going to fly back tonight, and it's going to be a hard plane flight,” Medved said after CSU's heart-breaking buzzer beater loss to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. “But, yeah, I mean, I think everything happens so fast. It happens so fast in our world and in our business here."

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.