Cal Announces Mark Madsen Hired as Bears' New Head Basketball Coach
Cal announced on Wednesday that Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen has been hired as the Golden Bears' new head coach.
Madsen will be formally introduced at a press conference at 1 p.m. PT on Monday, April 3 in Haas Pavilion.
The 47-year-old Madsen, a former star player at Stanford, replaces Mark Fox, who was dismissed after four seasons, including a 3-29 record this past season.
Madsen spent four years at Utah Valley, which was his first college head coaching experience, and the Wolverines improved each season. This season, Utah Valley finished with a 28-9 record, won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament before losing to UAB in overtime on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
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“I am extremely grateful to Chancellor Christ and Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton for their belief in me, and for the tremendous opportunity to lead Cal’s men’s basketball team back to its winning tradition,” Madsen said in a statement released by the school. “Having grown up in the area, I have always admired Cal as an institution and as an athletic program, with so many of my teachers, coaches and friends impressive Cal graduates. We will win with young men who have elite academic and athletic talent and who will represent Cal with pride. Hannah and I and our children are excited to return to the Bay Area and join the Cal community and I cannot wait to get started. Go Bears!”
Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton also released a statement:
“I could not be more excited to welcome Mark, his wife Hannah, and their children to the Cal Family. We conducted an exhaustive search, and one name kept rising to the top – and that’s Mark Madsen. Mark is a person of high character, high energy, high intensity, and he’s done it the right way. He’s intense. He’s passionate. He loves his student-athletes, and he loves competing. We want an ambassador for this program who is going to make us proud and develop our young men – both on and off the court. I am absolutely thrilled that Mark will lead our program into the future.”
Mark Madsen information
He is a Stanford alum who spent four seasons as Utah Valley head coach. Madsen’s career record at UVU was 70-51, including 48-21 the last 2 seasons. The team was 11-19, 11-11, 20-12 before this year. Regular-season WAC champion in 2021 and 2023
He is 47 years old
Wife: Hannah; Sons: William, Leroy; Daughter: Alexandria. Wife is expecting their fourth child at any time.
Native of Danville, CA, Attended San Ramon Valley High School. Earned nickname “Mad Dog” in elementary school
In the NIT this year, his team won at New Mexico and Colorado, then at home vs. Cincinnati, beating three teams ranked in the top-70 of the NET. The win over Cincy was the 7th win in 8 games for UVU and improved the record to 28-8. UVU also beat Oregon and BYU this season. Utah Valley lost to UAB 88-86 in overtime in the NIT semifinals
As a player at Stanford from 1996-97 through 1999-2000: he averaged 10.9 pts, 7.9 rebs Stanford was 105-24 in four seasons under Mike Montgomery -- 4 NCAA tournament berths, including Final Four appearance in 1998 when the team was 30-5. In 12 career NCAA games (8-4 record) averaged 13.2 points, 10.7 rebounds with 7 double-doubles — had 11 points, 16 rebounds in Final Four loss to Kentucky.
Has an undergrad degree and an MBA from Stanford.
Went on a 2-year Mormon mission to Spain before college.
He was a first-round NBA draft choice (No. 29 overall) of the Los Angeles Lakers. He played in the NBA from 2001 through 2009 (9 seasons), averaging 2.2 points, 2.6 rebounds Played (although on a limited basis) for NBA championship teams with the Lakers in 2001 and 2002, which were his first two seasons. He was coached by Phil Jackson and on teams with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Start of coaching career: After being waived in the NBA, Madsen was hired as the assistant coach for the Utah Flash of the NBA Developmental League (D-League). In 2012, he was hired as an assistant coach at Stanford. On May 13, 2013, he was named head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, a D-League team owned by the Los Angeles Lakers. On July 19, 2013, Madsen was promoted to a player development coach position with the Lakers. On September 16, 2014, Madsen was promoted to full-fledged Lakers assistant coach by Byron Scott. After Byron Scott was dismissed as head coach of the Lakers, new head coach Luke Walton retained Madsen as assistant coach on July 1, 2016.
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Cover photo of Mark Madsen from Utah Valley Athletics
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