Cal has hired Utah Valley’s Mark Madsen as its next coach, the school announced Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Madsen will replace Mark Fox, who went 38-87 over four seasons in Berkeley. The Golden Bears finished 3-29 last season, with the most losses in program history.
• Madsen boasted a 70-51 record in four seasons with Utah Valley. He was named 2022-23 WAC coach of the year after the Wolverines finished in first place in the conference with a 15-3 record (28-9 overall).
• The 47-year-old played at Cal rival Stanford and later in the NBA for the Lakers and Timberwolves. Madsen won two NBA titles with Los Angeles.

An East Bay native is coming home.

The new head coach of the Golden Bears is @madsen_mark!

📰 » https://t.co/QDi2kVAReM#GoBears pic.twitter.com/UvrOV7ZrLf

— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) March 29, 2023

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Is this a good hire for Cal?

At first blush, it might seem weird that a Stanford guy is taking the reins in Berkeley, but let’s not forget that former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery was the head coach at Cal for six years and took the Bears to four NCAA Tournaments. Madsen was a two-time All-American in college, played nine years in the NBA, was an assistant coach with the Lakers for six years and a head coach at Utah Valley for four years, the last of which won him a WAC regular season championship. That’s a strong pedigree, and he’s familiar with the area to boot. All in all, a win for Cal and for Madsen. — Davis

What’s next for Cal?

Let’s not mince words. This is one of the worst jobs in the country. Cal is one of the few power conference schools that doesn’t even have a dedicated practice facility for the basketball programs — though one is very much in development. The school’s stratospheric admission standards make bringing in transfers very difficult, and despite all the money the school raises, its deep well of wealthy alums and access to Silicon Valley dollars, there’s not much movement on the NIL front. The good news — if that’s what you want to call it — for Madsen is that the program has nowhere to go but up. But he’s got quite the challenge in front of him, to say the least. — Davis

Required reading

(Photo: Candice Ward/USA Today)