Reports indicate Mark Madsen will be the next Cal men's basketball head coach
Utah Valley is still competing for the NIT title, but Madsen is expected to be named the next Cal coach later this week.
More reports have filtered out from official sources around the Cal men’s basketball coaching search, and it appears we are approaching a resolution.
Barring an unforeseen turn of events, Utah Valley coach Mark Madsen is the next man to be patrolling the sidelines of Haas Pavilion.
The San Francisco Chronicle already reported Madsen was offered the job on Sunday.
Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports confirmed his initial report.
Jeff Goodman at Stadium also appeared to confirm the story.
The major reason an announcement has likely not been made is that Utah Valley is competing in the NIT semifinals. Also, Madsen is expecting the birth of his child, and might not be coaching tonight.
This has been a pretty intensive search for Mark Fox’s replacement. The search involved several prominent candidates like St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett, UC Santa Barbara coach Joe Pasternack, Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim and more, many of the above who were favored by various Cal donor groups.
However, Cal went in a different direction. Thanks partly due to counseling from former Cal basketball coach Mike Montgomery (who coached Madsen at Stanford), Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton (facing scrutiny of his own) went with Madsen, who has bona fides similar to many of the candidates being entertained.
Madsen is not likely the top pick of many Cal fans, most certainly due to his affiliation with the Farm across the Bay. But he has shown strong coaching acumen at Utah Valley, managing year-over-year improvement that has culminated in a WAC title and an NIT tournament run. He might not be the home run hire most Cal fans are hoping for, but the end result is many steps up from what transpired in the last two men’s basketball coaching searches for the Bears.
Cal fans, what are your thoughts on Mark Madsen in blue and gold?
He is a San Ramon HS grad (like myself) and I played with him at some open gyms back in the day. He is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Extremely hard working and even tempered. Without looking at any of his Utah Valley teams, I'd assume they are pretty solid fundamentally (dude loved his box outs). Not sure he would be great as a salesperson selling recruits, but thats probably more than we could ask for at this point anyway. I hope it works out.
I'm good with this. We're not going to hire a big name coach; we're gonna pay for the diamond in the rough, and I'm not sure he's even that rough with 48 wins in two years. Good character guy for sure. He played in the NBA, won a ring, can probably laugh at his own dancing, was great a 'Furd, and him BEING at 'Furd is my only problem with him, but if he wants to be at Cal then I want him to be at Cal. Let the Madsen era begin.
Just NEVER wear a red tie, dude......