Been talking bout this one for a while. It’s now official…here’s the press release from Denver announcing the hiring of Tim Bergstraser as their new head men’s basketball coach:
The University of Denver Division of Athletics has named Tim Bergstraser the 34th head men’s basketball coach in program history, Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Ritchie Center Operations Josh Berlo announced on Monday. Bergstraser’s introductory press conference is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. MT in Hamilton Gymnasium and will be streamed live on the Summit League Network.
Bergstraser went 75-22 in three seasons as the head coach at Minnesota State University Moorhead, leading the Dragons to three consecutive 25-win campaigns for the first time in program history. Prior to Bergstraser successfully taking over as the head coach, the Dragons hadn’t produced a 20-win season since going 24-6 in the 2016-17 campaign.
“At the onset of this search, we prioritized finding a proven high-character winner with head coaching experience that can be a leader for our student-athletes on and off the court with intimate knowledge of the Summit League,” Berlo said. “We found exactly that in Tim Bergstraser. He has succeeded at a very high level, competing for recruits and living in the Summit League’s footprint.
“It is with great excitement we welcome Tim and his family to the Pioneers as the next head men’s basketball coach at the University of Denver. After watching Tim coach back in 2022, speaking with former coaches, colleagues and administrators, and getting to know him through this process, it is clearly evident he embodies our shared belief that this program should be consistently competing in the top of the Summit League and battling for conference titles year in, year out. We are confident that Tim has the skill, passion, commitment and ability to elevate this program, and I am very excited about the future of Denver men’s basketball under Tim’s leadership.”
Bergstraser is fresh off a 25-9 campaign that saw Minnesota State Moorhead win its third NSIC Tournament title in the last four years. The work wasn’t done for the Dragons after the conference tournament, as MSUM went on to reach the NCAA Central Regional Final for the first time since 2014-15.
The Dragons went on a 13-game winning streak that included the five postseason wins that came before a regional final loss to the fifth-ranked team in the country in Washburn. The Dragons played at DU Summit League-foe North Dakota State last October, leading by as many as 11 in the second half and seven at the under-8 media timeout, giving the host Bison a preseason scare.
“It’s hard to explain how excited my family and I are for this move to the University of Denver. Colorado, Denver especially, is a place we have always dreamed about moving to,” Bergstraser said. “I can’t thank Josh Berlo, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner, and the committee enough for trusting me to lead this program to compete for championships. DU is a big deal, and we have a massive sense of pride in representing this program. I am itching to get to work for this University. We are determined to add to the great winning tradition that is already established in this athletic department.”
In his second season in charge of the Dragons, Bergstraser led MSUM to a 25-6 mark and an 18-4 record in conference play. Led by a pair of NSIC First Team and NSIC Second Team selections, the Dragons reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament with the program’s first NCAA win in three seasons.
The Dragons spent the entire season inside the top 13 of the NABC Coaches’ Poll and achieved the program’s first No. 1 ranking after getting off to a 14-0 start in the campaign.
Bergstraser’s first season as a head coach saw MSUM finish 25-7 and 17-5 in league play. The campaign featured another 10-game winning streak in it, and Bergstraser guided the Dragons to their second-consecutive NSIC Tournament title and his first trip as a head coach into the NCAA Tournament.
In the classroom, Bergstraser’s teams turned in a 3.4 grade-point average in all three seasons of his head coaching tenure, and his program had a student-athlete receive the conference’s Elite 18 award winner (single most academically accomplished student-athlete to participate in the NSIC Championship) in all three seasons.
Before becoming the head coach at MSUM, Bergstraser went 143-85 in his time as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, MSU Moorhead and Quincy University and as a grad assistant back at MSUM. During his career as an assistant, Bergstraser was named to the Silverwaves Media Top-50 Most Impactful DII Assistants list.
After his graduate assistantship and two other stops as an assistant coach, Bergstraser returned to MSUM for the 2018-19 campaign, his first of four seasons as an assistant coach there before being promoted to the head spot. As an assistant coach at MSUM, Bergstraser helped the Dragons to their first NSIC Tournament Championship in 2022 and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022. In the first of two NCAA Tournament trips in 2022 as an assistant, Bergstraser and the Dragons won their first NCAA Tournament game since the 2014-15 campaign.
As a graduate assistant, Bergstraser’s Dragons went 54-12, made the NSIC title game in 2016 and made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament in his two years in the role. Bergstraser was honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) with the association’s Under Armour 30 under 30 award.
In his collegiate playing career at St. Cloud State, Bergstraser helped the Huskies to the NCAA Final Four in the 2009-10 season and earned all-conference honors in 2011-12, averaging 12.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Following the 2011-12 campaign, Bergstraser’s career was cut short due to his third ACL knee injury. St. Cloud State’s Athletic Director and head coach at the time collaborated to provide Bergstraser a scholarship, which came along with the early opportunity to get into coaching as a student assistant and remain a part of the program for the 2013-14 season where Bergstraser found his passion for the profession.
