Cal hires Utah Valley's Mark Madsen as men's basketball coach

The coach being tasked with bringing Cal basketball back from the depths of the Pac-12 is a Stanford man. Mark Madsen has been named the Bears' new head coach replacing Mark Fox, who was let go by Cal earlier this month after four seasons.

"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 provided by the program. "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!"

Madsen, who played at Stanford from 1996 to 2000 and is in that school's hall of fame, has been successful in his first stint as a head coach leading Utah Valley to 48 wins over the last two seasons.

"I could not be more excited to welcome Mark, his wife Hannah, and their children to the Cal Family," Cal athletic director Jim 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."

Cal's new head coach is no stranger to the Bay Area having been born in Walnut Creek before eventually graduating from San Ramon Valley High School and playing at Stanford. He is someone who understands the landscape, and now he will have to use that knowledge to rebuild a team that is coming off its worst season in program history.

The Bears won just three games this season pushing the administration to fire Fox and seek out a new leader for the program.

Madsen comes to Berkeley with just four years of college head coaching experience, but he has earned plenty of accolades throughout his playing and coaching careers that pushed him to the forefront of Cal's search.

He won an NBA title twice with the Los Angeles Lakers and has also previously been an assistant at the college level when he was on staff at Stanford for the 2012-13 season. Prior to taking over at Utah Valley, Madsen was an assistant coach for the Lakers from 2013-19. He also served as both an assistant and briefly head coach of the Lakers' D-League affiliate, Los Angeles D-Fenders.

The Bears are in need of a complete rebuild after their dismal finish under Fox, and Madsen will now be the one leading that charge as he makes his return to the Bay Area.

Cal's new head coach will be introduced at a 1 p.m. press conference Monday (April 3) at Haas Pavilion.

• 2009-10: Utah Flash (NBA D-League | assistant coach)

• 2012-13: Stanford (assistant coach)

• 2013: Los Angeles D-Fenders (NBA D-League | head coach)

• 2013-19: Los Angeles Lakers (assistant coach)

• 2019-2023: Utah Valley (head coach)