Mark Madsen Named Cal Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Mark Madsen, a proven winner as both a coach and player at the college and professional levels, was named Cal’s men’s basketball head coach.

BERKELEY – Mark Madsen, a two-time NBA champion with East Bay roots and a proven track record as both a college and professional coach, has been named the 19th head coach in California men’s basketball history, Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Wednesday.
 
Madsen will be formally introduced at a press conference at 1 p.m. PT on Monday, April 3 in Haas Pavilion.
 
After a decorated playing career which included a trip to the NCAA Final Four at Stanford and two NBA titles while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, Madsen is considered a rising star in the coaching ranks, having most recently led Utah Valley to the semifinals of the 2023 NIT. Madsen was named the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and led the Wolverines to a pair of conference titles during his four seasons at the helm. Madsen has been well-recognized for his efforts during the 2022-23 campaign as he was named District Coach of the Year by both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award, which is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball.
 
“I could not be more excited to welcome Mark, his wife Hannah, and their children to the Cal Family,” Knowlton said. “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.”
 
Madsen spent six seasons as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers (2013-19) prior to leading Utah Valley. During his time on the Los Angeles bench, he coached NBA superstars LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, among others. He also played alongside some of the NBA’s greatest players, including Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett….