Cal basketball coaching search: Golden Bears reportedly closing in on 'leading candidate'

Cal basketball’s coaching search could be coming to an end soon.

The Golden Bears have identified Mark Madsen as a “leading candidate” for the job, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

Madsen has had an excellent start to his head coaching career with Utah Valley. He has led the Wolverines to a 70-50 record over the past 4 seasons. Utah Valley won the WAC regular season title this past season.

Sources: Utah Valley's Mark Madsen has emerged as a leading candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Cal.

Madsen has won a combined 48 games in the past two seasons at Utah Valley.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 26, 2023

Madsen is a Stanford alum. It’s possible he would have garnered interest from the Cardinal this offseason, but Stanford opted to retain head coach Jerod Haase for an 8th season.

Madsen went on to have a successful NBA career after playing for Stanford. He was a 2-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and played in the Association for 9 seasons.

Cal parted ways with coach Mark Fox earlier this offseason. Fox lasted just 4 years with the Golden Bears and never delivered a season over .500.

Cal has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016.