On Wednesday, it was announced that Stanford men’s basketball legend and Stanford Athletics Hall of Famer Mark Madsen is taking the head coaching position at Cal.
In his four years on The Farm, Madsen averaged 10.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Those numbers are dragged down a bit by his freshman season. If you remove his freshman stats, Madsen averaged 12.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Madsen was an integral part of the 1998 Final Four team as a sophomore and went on to have a strong nine year career in the NBA, winning two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers before later playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Madsen is one of the most beloved players in Stanford Cardinal history.
Madsen replaces Mark Fox after a 3-29 season, the worst season in Cal history. Once a solid basketball program that frequently made the NCAA tournament, Cal has a steep hill to climb to get back to the level of respectability that they once had.
Madsen is taking on a tough job but obviously feels like he is up to the task. In his fourth season as head coach at Utah Valley, Madsen guided the Wolverines to a 28-9 overall record, a 15-3 record in the WAC (league title), and a trip to the semifinals of the NIT. Madsen has shown that he can coach at the Division 1 level.
Many felt like Madsen would take the Stanford job if Jerod Haase was fired, but given the strong recruiting class the Cardinal have coming in, Stanford felt like it would be better to give Haase another year and see if he can finally break through by getting them to their first NCAA tournament since 2014. It will arguably be the best roster Haase has ever had and so on those grounds, it’s more than fair to give him the chance to coach a team that he and his staff have built.
With Stanford not an option for this year and Cal opening up, Madsen has decided to jump on the chance to come back to the Bay Area and coach a Cal team that is located closer to his old stomping grounds of Walnut Creek. In addition to his Bay Area roots, Madsen understands the importance of education by not only getting his undergraduate degree from Stanford, but getting his MBA from Stanford as well. He also had a solid NBA career and has a strong track record of player development.
On top of that, he’s a really positive person who is loved by his players. When I met him as an LDS missionary in Minnesota years ago, I could tell that he was a really nice, down to earth guy. There’s a lot to like with Madsen and good reason to think he could succeed at Cal.
That said, there are certain questions and unknowns about Madsen. It is unknown if he can rebuild a program from the ground up and it is also unknown if he can take a team to the NCAA tournament. He’s done neither of those things before.
He inherited a good situation when he took over the Utah Valley job after Mark Pope left for BYU, so it wasn’t too hard for him to keep the train going. In contrast, he is inheriting an absolute mess at Cal. On top of the cupboard being bare talent wise, he’s also stepping into a situation where he doesn’t even know who his boss is going to be. Cal’s athletic director Jim Knowlton is currently under investigation by the university for his handling of the Teri McKeever scandal. The allegation being that he looked the other way when swimmers came forward to him with credible allegations of abuse.
Madsen has never had to build a program on his own before and while he very well may be capable of doing so, it’s still not known if he’ll be able to do that. He largely built his Utah Valley team through the transfer portal and it’s going to be harder to do that at Cal. He doesn’t have much familiarity with the UC system and how the ecosystem at UC Berkeley works and while his experience at Stanford will help there some, they are not identical situations. Stanford has more resources and is an easier sell on the recruiting trail. As an extension of that, Cal also lacks a practice facility and just in general, the program was as dead as a doornail this past season.
Madsen is going to have to bring this program back to life by the sweat of his brow, passion, and determination. And he’s also going to need some help from people who understand Cal. His former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery will need to be a major help in helping him navigate the challenges that he is going to face. And even if he is able to figure that part out, it is still unknown if he’ll be able to get Cal back to the NCAA tournament. He’s more experienced than he was when he first got the Utah Valley job, but he is still a pretty green head coach.
If there’s one thing I can say with one hundred percent confidence about Madsen, it’s that he’s going to (A) put in the work and (B) he’s going to be a wonderful asset to the Berkeley community. The fact that he lasted as long as he did in the NBA is a testament to his work ethic, toughness, and discipline. He’s going to instill those same traits in each and every one of his players.
In regard to community outreach, during my time in Minnesota, I heard stories about him giving signed shoes to kids and really reaching out to all people who were in the Twin Cities. This is a guy who took time out of his busy day to play pickup basketball with missionaries and make each and every one feel like they mattered. I still remember him introducing himself to me as “Brother Madsen" as if he was a regular guy and not a two-time NBA champion. For all that he’s accomplished, he stays grounded and doesn’t think or act like he’s better than anybody. That humility will serve him well as he takes on this job.
When you add it all up, I think everyone on both sides of the Cal-Stanford rivalry should be excited to see what Mad Dog will accomplish in Berkeley. His unique blend of talents, work ethic, and life experiences should benefit a program that is in desperate need of hope.
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