Videos That Tell Story of Mark Madsen, Cal's One-of-a-Kind Coach
There is no way to dectribe Mark Madsen, Cal's new head basketball coach. You just have to experience him. He is, in a word, different.
My quintessential Mark Madsen moment came more than 20 years ago when I was covering Stanford basketball and the media was allowed in the locker room before practices to talk to players (unthinkable these days). The Cardinal team was a group of smart, strong personalities at the time, but when practice time neared and it was time for the media to leave, it was Madsen who made the loud annoucement, "OK, media out." Teammates and the media knew it was time.
I remember Connecticut forward Kevin Freeman in the Maples Pavilion visiting locker room in 1999, shaking his head and smiling, recalling his matchup moments earlier against Mark Madsen. He had never played against someone like Madsen, who would beat the crap out of any opponent with his physical style, then go out of his way to help that opponent up after knocking him to the floor and nearly into the stands.
I recall Madsen's mother being worried about her son going to the NBA, concerned that his pollyanna outlook might be dangerous amid hardened basketball pros, who might take advantage of him. Turns out Madsen became friends with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Here are some examples that get close to demonstrating what Madsen is all about.
The best of Mark Madsen, and none of it is on the court. Baking bread was one of his hobbies:
Mark Madsen dances during victory parade following Lakers' NBA championship:
This classic story by Madsen's Stanford teammate Jason Collins, which appeared in the Players' Tribune, describes Madsen as well as anything. Here a few excerpts:
When I think about March Madness ’98, the first thing that comes to mind is Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen’s unorthodox dance moves. But we’ll get to that later.
And this:
Let’s freeze for a second here. Let me tell you about “Mad Dog” Madsen. He was like the Soccer Dad of the Stanford Men’s Basketball Team. Mark was a redshirt sophomore who spent two years in Spain serving a Mormon mission. Picture a college kid who acts like a responsible adult at all times. If any teammate needed a ride, Mad Dog would be there to pick you up and drive you wherever in his hand-me-down minivan. If you were on the Stanford campus in the late ’90s, you probably witnessed the weird sight of a bunch of six-foot dudes piled into a minivan listening to loud hip-hop that we had ripped from Napster.
Mark was one of 10 kids in a big Mormon family. His parents lived about an hour away from campus and they used to invite the entire team over for dinner. His mom actually handmade basketball shorts for us with her own fabric. I remember going over there and she would hand them out to all the players. They were incredible. Super comfy, super baggy. That was the style back then. They kind of had an MC Hammer vibe.
So when you went to the Madsen house you got dinner and hoops shorts. I just want you to understand the kind of environment that Mad Dog grew up in.
Okay, we good? Let’s unfreeze.
Mark Madsen jumped up with both feet, with both hands on the ball — pure fundamentals — and dunked right on the Rhode Island player.
Whistle. And 1.
Our bench exploded.
Mark landed, did two little bunny hops and then did this:
Madsen tells his own story, and how he got the nickname "Mad Dog":
The video below is Madsen reflecting on his time at Stanford. Yes, it's corny, but that's Madsen. The one story he tells that sticks out was about his experience in an Economics, when he gave a response to a question and another student gave a countering response, "and she completely shot down everything I said." But Madsen looked at that experience not as an embarrassment but as a positive moment:
A Mark Madsen interview (bleow) when he became Utah Valley coach, and he talks about how players should be allowed to transfer and how many players he lost from the previous year. He faces something similar at Cal:
And we finish with one more look at the Lakers victory parade with Shaq wrapping and Madsen dancing, which is quintessential Mad Dog:
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Cover photo of Mark Madsen by Utah Valley Athletics
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