Mark Madsen Named Prosser Award Finalist

California men's basketball head coach Mark Madsen is among 20 finalists for the 2023-24 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, CollegeInsider.com announced Tuesday.
 
The Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award honors a collegiate coach who achieved success on the basketball court and displayed moral integrity on and off it.
 
Madsen, an East Bay native, reinvigorated the Cal men's basketball program in his first season at the helm, engaging fans, donors and faculty while leading the Golden Bears to their best finish in the Pac-12 Conference 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.
 
The recipient of the annual award – which has been issued in each of the past 16 seasons – is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of CollegeInsider.com. The 2023-24 award recipient will be announced during the NCAA Men's Final Four in Phoenix in early April.
 
The award is named for Skip Prosser, who was 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach at Wake Forest, Xavier and Loyola (Md.). Prosser's Wake Forest teams averaged 21 wins per season, and he was named the 2003 ACC Coach of the Year. Prosser passed away from an apparent heart attack on July 26, 2007.
 
2023-24 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award Finalists
Lennie Acuff, Lipscomb
Griff Aldrich, Longwood
Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh
Hubert Davis, North Carolina
John Dunne, Marist
Donte' Jackson, Grambling
Donnie Jones, Stetson
James Jones, Yale
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Greg Kampe, Oakland
Tod Kowalczyk, Toledo
Billy Lange, Saint Joseph's
Steve Lutz, Western Kentucky
Mark Madsen, California
Niko Medved, Colorado State
Matt Painter, Purdue
Levell Sanders, Binghamton
Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut
Pat Skerry, Towson
Jon Scheyer, Duke