Cal Bears Basketball Coaching Staff

Last Game

TBA
Mar 11, 2023
Pac-12 Tournament - Championship
Mark Fox

Mark Fox

Head Coach

Mark Fox, a veteran coach who guided teams at Nevada and Georgia to multiple postseason berths during the course of his career, was named head men's basketball coach at Cal on March 29, 2019 and enters his second season with the Golden Bears in 2020-21.

Fox, who reached 300 career wins with a victory over Stanford at the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament, owns a career record of 300-194. He has averaged 20 wins per season over the last 15 years. Prior to his time in Berkeley, He compiled a 123-43 record in his first five seasons as a head coach, leading Nevada from 2005-09, a run that included four conference championships, three invitations to the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the CBI Tournament. He later served as head coach at Georgia for nine seasons from 2010-18 and amassed a 163-133 mark, leading the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and three National Invitation Tournaments.

In his first season in Berkeley, the Bears showed marked signs of improvement across the board and compiled a 14-18 overall record, up from 8-23 the year prior. With Fox at the helm, the Bears doubled their conference win total, from 3-15 in 2018-19, prior to his arrival, to 7-11 in 2019-20, the largest margin of improvement by any Pac-12 team. The Bears opened the Fox era with seven consecutive home wins and added weekend home sweeps of the Washington and Mountain programs later in the year, including an upset of No. 21 Colorado in February. Fox's first year ended with a victory over rival Stanford at the Pac-12 Tournament before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 crisis. Matt Bradley continued his development as one of the league's emerging stars, earning an All-Pac-12 Second Team nod.

Fox, 50, earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Eastern New Mexico in 1991 and a master’s degree in sport administration/sports psychology from Kansas in 1996. Originally from Garden City, Kansas, he and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Parker and Olivia.

Andrew Francis

Andrew Francis

Assistant Coach

Now entering his second season on Mark Fox's staff, California men’s basketball assistant Andrew Francis joined the Golden Bears in April 2019 with nearly two decades of Division I basketball coaching experience, including stints at Iowa, where he helped in rejuvenating the Hawkeyes program back into national prominence, and at perennial powerhouse Villanova.

Praised for his tireless recruiting efforts and player development, Francis served the Hawkeyes for nine seasons and was a member of the longest-tenured coaching staff in Division I basketball after becoming Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s first hire in April 2010. During his time in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes averaged 20 wins in eight consecutive seasons and won at least 18 games per season for six straight seasons (2012-17), while attendance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena increased by more than 50 percent. The Hawkeyes were one of just three teams to finish in the upper division of the Big Ten in at least six of his last seven seasons.

In Francis’ final season with the Hawkeyes, Iowa amassed 23 victories – the program’s second-highest total in more than a decade – and was nationally ranked for 16 consecutive weeks. With his help over the last decade, Iowa regained its footing as a national powerhouse, achieving its highest national ranking since 1987 when the Hawkeyes earned a No. 3 ranking in January 2016. The Hawkeyes were ranked in both major polls in each of the final 11 weeks of the 2016 season. In 2013, Iowa tallied 25 wins and reached the NIT Championship game.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Francis is a 1992 graduate of Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School. He played basketball at Fulton Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, New York, before completing his college career under Sidney Green at Long Island University-Southampton. Francis graduated in 1998 with a degree in marketing and management.

Chris Harriman

Chris Harriman

Assistant Coach

The first assistant hired to head coach Mark Fox’s staff, Chris Harriman joined the Golden Bears in April 2019 after serving under notable names such as Rick Majerus (Saint Louis), Tim Miles (Nebraska) and Paul Weir (New Mexico).

Harriman arrived in Berkeley after four seasons as the associate head coach at the University of New Mexico, where he oversaw all aspects of the basketball program, including scheduling, recruiting and player development. He started with the Lobos under head coach Craig Neal in April 2015 and was the only assistant retained after Paul Weir was hired as New Mexico’s new head coach in 2017.

In 2017-18, Harriman helped the Lobos finish third in the Mountain West in the regular season after being selected to finish ninth overall. New Mexico earned a Mountain West Tournament first-round bye and reached the conference title game for the first time since 2014, while Harriman helped develop Antino Jackson as an All-Mountain West Defensive Team selection.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Harriman is well-known for his international recruiting prowess and global knowledge of the game.

Harriman married his wife, Ciara, in May 2019. He has one son (Avery) and two daughters (Kacee and Elsie). He started the #AveryStrong campaign to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer in honor of his son’s battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Marty Wilson

Marty Wilson

Assistant Coach

Lamar "Marty" Wilson joined the Golden Bears as an assistant coach for Wyking Jones in April 2018, and was the lone member of the coaching staff retained after Mark Fox was hired as Cal’s head coach in March 2019.

Wilson served seven seasons at the helm for his alma mater, Pepperdine, before coming to Berkeley. During his first season with the Bears, the squad ranked within the Pac-12’s top three in steals (3rd, 7.6 spg), turnover margin (2nd, +2.8), and Cal ended the regular season with three consecutive victories, sweeping the Washington schools and winning at Stanford.

In Malibu, Wilson helped transform the Waves from a 10-win team in his first season to back-to-back 18-win seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, marking their first consecutive winning seasons since 2001-03. Pepperdine finished fourth in the West Coast Conference in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and the 2015 squad allowed just 61.6 points and finished the season second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.0 percent).

Wilson graduated from Pepperdine in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in communications. A native of Pacoima, Calif., Wilson was a prep standout at Simi Valley High School and was named the Marmonte League's Most Valuable Player in his senior season.Wilson and his wife Mayra have two children, Jessica and Jalon.

Blake Bender

Blake Bender

Assistant Athletic Performance Coach

Blake Bender enters his first season with the Golden Bears in 2020-21 after joining Cal as an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach in June 2020.Bender joined the Bears following two years as the Director of Sports Performance for the Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball program. His stops also include Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida and Texas.

Bender received his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology and Health Education from Texas in 2015, followed by a Master’s in Sport Management from Florida on 2017. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in kinesiology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

 
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