BERKELEY – California men’s basketball head coach Mark Madsen has signed a two-year contract extension, Cal Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Tuesday. Madsen, who was named the 19th head coach in program history last March, is in the first year of a five-year contract, and the two-year extension will take it to 2030.
“Coach Madsen has made an incredible difference in the short time he has been at Cal,” Knowlton said. “He has not only developed our young men and made great progress in the last year, but has engaged our faculty, our donors, our fans and truly brought energy back to the ‘Haas Of Pain.’ I’m excited to extend Mark and work together with him as we make the move to the ACC, and I know our entire Cal family is excited to see what’s next.”
Madsen, an East Bay native, has reinvigorated the Cal men’s basketball program in his first season at the helm, as he led the Golden Bears to their best finish in the Pac-12 standings since 2016-17 with a tie for sixth place. Cal’s nine conference wins – each against a different opponent, including marquee victories against UCLA, Washington State, Oregon and Colorado – are the fourth-most by a first-year head coach in program history.
Cal won 10 home games, including six of its final eight, inside Haas Pavilion in Madsen’s first year. The final eight-game span was highlighted by Cal’s first sold-out crowd since Jan. 29, 2017, when 11,801 were on hand for Cal’s 83-77 overtime win against USC on Feb. 7. The sellout was sandwiched by attendances of 8,710 against Stanford on Jan. 26 and 9,280 against UCLA on Feb. 10.
“I’m fired up every day to be the head coach at Cal, and consider myself very fortunate to work alongside an outstanding group of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators who share the same relentless passion for success,” Madsen said. “I’m grateful to Jim Knowlton and our administration for their ongoing confidence in what we’re building in Berkeley. Our goal is to win championships and pursue greatness, and our entire basketball program will continue to execute on that vision with the Cal community behind us. There are great things ahead in Bear Territory, and we’re just getting started.”
The turnaround was jumpstarted last offseason when Madsen and company signed the nation’s eighth-ranked (On3) transfer class, highlighted by Jaylon Tyson, who was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team on Tuesday morning, and the Pac-12’s leading rebounder this season, Fardaws Aimaq. Cal has averaged 73.9 points per game this season, with the rebooted roster fueling a 9.6-point increase from its 64.3 PPG over the previous six seasons (2017-23).
