Mark Madsen (basketball)

Mark Ellsworth Madsen (born January 28, 1976) is an American basketball coach and former NBA player who is the head coach of the California Golden Bears of the ACC. Due to his hustle and physical style of play, he received the nickname "Mad Dog" while playing for the San Ramon Valley High School Wolves, and the moniker continued during his time with the Stanford Cardinal and beyond. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning two NBA championships. He also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Mark Madsen

Madsen with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2007
California Golden Bears
Position	Head coach
League	Atlantic Coast Conference
Personal information
Born	(1976-01-28) January 28, 1976 (age 49) Walnut Creek, California, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school	San Ramon Valley (Danville, California)
College	Stanford (1996–2000)
NBA draft	2000: 1st round, 29th overall pick
Drafted by	Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career	2000–2009
Position	Power forward / center
Number	35
Coaching career	2009–present
Career history
As a player:
2000–2003	Los Angeles Lakers
2003–2009	Minnesota Timberwolves
As a coach:
2009–2010	Utah Flash (assistant)
2012–2013	Stanford (assistant)
2013	Los Angeles D-Fenders
2013–2019	Los Angeles Lakers (assistant)
2019–2023	Utah Valley
2023–present	California
Career highlights
As player: 2× NBA champion (2001, 2002) Third-team All-American – NABC (1999) 2× First-team All-Pac-10 (1999, 2000) As coach: 2× WAC regular season champion (2021, 2023) WAC Coach of the Year (2023)
Career NBA statistics
Points	975 (2.2 ppg)
Rebounds	1,157 (2.6 rpg)
Assists	181 (0.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Goodwill Games 2001 Brisbane National team Summer Universiade 1999 Palma National team

College career

Madsen played NCAA basketball at Stanford, where he finished his career ranked in the school's career top 10 in blocks and rebounds. In addition, Madsen helped the Cardinal to four NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four berth in 1998. Perhaps his signature moment at Stanford was his dunk and free throw that gave Stanford a lead over Rhode Island, propelling the team into the Final Four, where it lost to eventual champion Kentucky. Madsen was a two-time All-American and a two-time All-Pac-10 selection.

Professional career

Los Angeles Lakers (2000–2003)

The Los Angeles Lakers selected Madsen in the first round (29th pick overall) of the 2000 NBA draft. He contributed to the Lakers' NBA championships in 2001 and 2002, and became well known for his goofy dances at the victory parades for those championships.

Talking about his prime with the Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal said that the only player who could thwart him from his dominant play was Madsen. "He used to beat me up in practice", O'Neal said.^[1]

Minnesota Timberwolves (2003–2009)

Madsen signed with the Timberwolves as a free agent before the start of the 2003–04 NBA season. He played six seasons for the Wolves.^[2][3]

On July 20, 2009, Madsen was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair in exchange for Quentin Richardson.^[4] On August 21, 2009, he was waived by the Clippers.^[5]

Madsen's final NBA game was played on April 15, 2009, in a 90–97 loss to the Sacramento Kings. In his final game, Madsen was the team's starting power forward, but he played for only 9+1⁄2 minutes and recorded no stats. His career averages were 2.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 11.8 minutes played per game.

Coaching career

Los Angeles D-Fenders (2013)

Following being waived, Madsen was hired as the assistant coach for the Utah Flash of the NBA Development League (D-League).^[6] In 2012, he was hired as an assistant coach at Stanford.^[7] On May 13, 2013, he was named head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, a D-League team owned by the Los Angeles Lakers.^[8]

Los Angeles Lakers

On July 19, 2013, Madsen was promoted to a player development coach position with the Lakers.^[9] On September 16, 2014, Madsen was promoted to full-fledged assistant coach by Byron Scott.^[10] After Byron Scott was dismissed as head coach of the Lakers, new head coach Luke Walton retained Madsen as assistant coach on July 1, 2016.^[11]

Utah Valley (2019–2023)

Madsen was hired as the head coach at Utah Valley University on April 14, 2019.^[12]

California (2023–present)

Madsen was hired as the head coach at the University of California, Berkeley on March 29, 2023. Madsen is the 19th men's basketball head coach in Cal history.^[13][14] On March 12, 2024, Madsen signed a two-year contract extension through the 2029–30 season.^[15]

Personal life

Madsen is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Madsen speaks Spanish, acquiring the language from a two-year mission abroad in Málaga, Spain on behalf of his church following his graduation from high school.

As a youth, Madsen attained the rank of Eagle Scout and credits Scouting with teaching him about leadership, character and mentoring.^[16]

In fall 2010, Madsen enrolled in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In June 2012, he received an M.B.A. degree with a Certificate in Public Management.^[17]

Madsen married Hannah Harkness on September 3, 2016. The Madsens have three boys and two daughters.^[18]

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000–01†	L.A. Lakers	70	3	9.2	.487	1.000	.703	2.2	.3	.1	.1	2.0
2001–02†	L.A. Lakers	59	5	11.0	.452	.000	.648	2.7	.7	.3	.2	2.8
2002–03	L.A. Lakers	54	22	14.5	.423	–	.590	2.9	.7	.3	.4	3.2
2003–04	Minnesota	72	12	17.3	.495	.000	.483	3.8	.4	.5	.3	3.6
2004–05	Minnesota	41	14	14.7	.515	–	.500	3.1	.4	.2	.3	2.1
2005–06	Minnesota	62	7	10.9	.409	.000	.426	2.3	.2	.4	.3	1.2
2006–07	Minnesota	56	0	8.4	.535	–	.517	1.6	.2	.2	.2	1.1
2007–08	Minnesota	20	6	7.6	.158	–	.250	1.9	.2	.2	.1	.5
2008–09	Minnesota	19	1	6.1	.214	–	.000	.9	.2	.1	.1	.3
Career		453	70	11.8	.457	.063	.527	2.6	.4	.3	.2	2.2

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2001†	L.A. Lakers	13	0	3.7	.077	–	.600	.8	.3	.0	.2	.4
2002†	L.A. Lakers	7	0	1.4	.000	.000	–	.3	.0	.0	.0	.0
2003	L.A. Lakers	12	2	14.1	.419	.000	.438	2.3	1.0	.3	.2	2.8
2004	Minnesota	17	0	13.1	.531	–	.448	3.4	.1	.3	.2	2.8
Career		49	2	9.2	.403	.000	.460	2.0	.4	.2	.2	1.7

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Utah Valley Wolverines (Western Athletic Conference) (2019–2023)
2019–20	Utah Valley	11–19	5–10	8th
2020–21	Utah Valley	11–11	9–4	T–1st1
2021–22	Utah Valley	20–12	10–8	7th
2022–23	Utah Valley	28–9	15–3	1st	NIT Semifinals
Utah Valley:		70–51 (.579)	39–25 (.609)
California Golden Bears (Pac-12 Conference) (2023–2024)
2023–24	California	13–19	9–11	T–6th
California Golden Bears (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2024–present)
2024–25	California	14–19	6–14	15th
California:		27–38 (.415)	15–25 (.375)
Total:		97–89 (.522)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

1. ^ Due to irregularities in the WAC standings due to cancelled games resulted from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic throughout the season, Utah Valley and Grand Canyon were declared co-champions in the regular season as both teams had 9 wins in conference play. This was contrary to the fact Utah Valley finished with one extra loss and thus an inferior winning percentage in conference play.