The revamping of the Colorado men’s basketball team will include replacing a program fixture.
Associate head coach Mike Rohn, who has been part of head coach Tad Boyle’s staff during his entire 16-season tenure, has opted to leave the Buffaloes to take an associate head coach position at Kansas City.
The move is largely a personal one for Rohn, a Kansas native who has family in Kansas City. Rohn was a collegiate star at McPherson College in Kansas, and he also served as the head coach at Dodge City Community College for three seasons before working alongside Boyle as assistants at Wichita State.
“Itap going to be different,” Boyle said. “A guy that in many ways is under-appreciated, maybe by the fan base or by the people who follow our program because he’s just a steady-Eddie. A guy you can always count on. Had a great pulse for the team that we coach. Worked hard at recruiting and did a wonderful job with the coaches and the players in the state of Colorado. I’m going to miss him a lot, not just on a personal level but certainly on a professional level.”
Rohn has been CU’s recruiting coordinator throughout his tenure, and he was promoted to associate head coach ahead of the 2017-18 season. The Buffs have won 329 games during Rohn’s time at CU — an average of 20.6 per season — with six NCAA Tournament appearances and a seventh that was denied when the 2020 tournament was canceled at the start of the COVID pandemic.
Rohn has helped mentor five NBA first-round draft picks at Colorado (Alec Burks, Andre Roberson, Derrick White, Cody Williams and Tristan da Silva). The Buffs also have had five second-round picks under Rohn’s watch in Spencer Dinwiddie, George King, Tyler Bey, Jabari Walker and KJ Simpson.
On Feb. 1, Kansas City named Mark Turgeon as its new head coach for 2026-27. Rohn, like Boyle, worked for Turgeon when he was the head coach at Wichita State. The Kansas City staff also is set to include Turgeon’s son Will, who spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at CU.
Rohn’s two adult daughters live in Kansas City, and one of them is expecting Rohn’s first grandchild this summer.
“Itap important for people to know that this was a family decision that Mike made,” Boyle said. “From a family perspective, it made a lot of sense for him to relocate, and I’m happy for him.”
Besides CU, Wichita State and Dodge City, Rohn’s other coaching stops included stints as an assistant at Colby Community College, Fort Hays State, and Texas A&M, where he also worked with Mark Turgeon while the Aggies reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons.
“I chose to come to Kansas City because of the great enthusiasm surrounding men’s basketball on campus and in KC,” Rohn said in a news release from Kansas City. “It is a special place that is hungry for a great hometown team that they can get behind and believe in. Coach Turgeon and I have been part of some special teams and many amazing wins in the past and I am looking forward to many more here. I am really looking forward to being part of a very special coaching staff that coach Turgeon has put together.”
