Mark Madsen’s Greatest Coaching Skill: Maximizing Player Production

How has Mark Madsen turned a Cal team that won three games the year before he arrived into a 22-win team in his third season?

He doesn’t get praise for his defensive schemes. His recruiting skills are OK but nothing extraordinary. His late-game strategy isn’t drawing raves.

No, it’s something that isn’t noticeable in a particular game; it’s only apparent when you step back and look at the team from afar, relative to past seasons.

Quite simply, Madsen gets the most out of his players, players that seem to have middling talent when they arrive at Cal and suddenly become impact players when they play for Madsen.

That became apparent in Madsen’s first season at Cal with Jaylon Tyson. Tyson was a decent second-year college player at Texas Tech in 2022-23, averaging 10.1 points and 1.3 assists.

However, Madsen turned him into a first-round NBA draft choice in Tyson’s one season at Cal, where he averaged 19.6 points and 3.5 assists in 2023-24.

The next year, Madsen brought in Andrej Stojakovic, who was an occasional starter who averaged 7.8 points as a Stanford freshman, but improved that to 17.9 points per game in his only season at Cal under Marsen in 2024-25.

That same year, Jeremiah Wilkinson, a basic three-star recruit, turned into a freshman star in his one season at Cal, averaging 15.1 points, including 18.8 points over the final 13 games.

The best example of Madsen’s ability to coax production from players came this season.

Dai Dai Ames, Justin Pippen, Chris Bell and John Camden all looked like complementary players without stardom potential when they transferred to Cal.

Ames averaged 5.7 points as a Kansas State freshman and 8.7 points as a Virginia sophomore in 2024-25, but he suddenly averaged 16.9 points this season under Madsen.

Pippen barely played as a Michigan freshman in 2024-25, averaging 1.2 points and 0.6 assists. However, he upped that to 14.2 points and 4.6 assists this season at Cal.

Bell came off the bench most of the time at Syracuse in 2024-25, when he averaged 9.3 points. This season he averaged 14.2 points and seemed to be getting better late in the season, scoring 54 points in the Bears two postseason games.

Camden averaged 1.3 points and 1.9 points in his two seasons at Virginia Tech before averaging 16.8 points in 2024-25 at Delaware. But a guy who played for an 8-24 Delaware team in the Coastal Athletic Association is not expected to have a major impact in the ACC.

Camden averaged 13.8 points at Cal this season and scored 20 points or more eight times.

Experience helps players improve over time, but these year-to-year improvements go beyond experience.

How did Madsen pull so much more production from these players?

Two things: He showers his players with confidence and he puts them in position to best display their offensive skills.

It sounds simple, but anyone who has spent time around Madsen knows how optimistic he can be and how much faith he puts in his players. It is evident on the court as players exude the kind of confidence they did not have previously.

Madsen turned Tyson, a small forward, into the Bears’ primary playmaker, allowing him to control the game, which he did effectively.

Madsen recognized Wilkinson’s ability with ball in his hands, encouraging him to take defenders off the dribble, which he did time after time.

Madsen handed the Cal offense over to Pippen from the start of the 2025-26 season, and Pippen ran with it.

Bell found his spot outside the three-point line and never hesitated to shoot regardless of the time or score.

Camden always showed confidence combined with aggressiveness, whether he was taking a quick three-pointer or driving to the hoop.

Ames’ one-on-one skills became apparent, so Madsen let him loose to display his slick reverse dribbles, his penetration skills, and his step-back jumpers.

The hesitation shown elsewhere by players on a tight leash was never evident by Cal players.

It wasn’t the schemes or the strategy that boosted Cal to a place that breeds hope for the future. It was Madsen’s ability to coax greater production from his players.