Cal head coach Mark Madsen to miss game vs. Vanderbilt due to birth of fifth child

California head coach Mark Madsen will miss Wednesday evening’s game against Vanderbilt due to the birth of his fifth child, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 PM EST. The game will be televised on SEC Network+. Associate head coach Adam Mazarei will serve as interim head coach for the Bears.

The Golden Bears are off to a 2-0 start this year. Their competition should kick up a notch on Wednesday evening, when they face the Commodores. Their first two wins were against CSU Bakersfield and Cal Poly. Cal features one of the more talented scorers in all of college basketball, Andrej Stojakovic, the son of sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic.

He’s been averaging 15.5 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game for the 2024-2025 season. Coming out of Jesuit High School (Carmichael, California), he was ranked as the No. 25 overall prospect in America and earned a four-star rating, according to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2023 cycle. He started his college basketball career by signing with the Stanford Cardinal last year, before portaling in the offseason to join Cal.

California and contract extension for Mark Madsen

In the offseason, California agreed to extend new coach Mark Madsen‘s contract for an additional two years, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello.

Madsen’s deal will now run through the 2029-30 season.

The 48-year-old head coach is in his first season with the Bears after taking over following a four-year stint at Utah Valley from 2019-23. He has helped lead a pretty remarkable turnaround for the Golden Bears.

Prior to his arrival, California went just 2-18 in Pac-12 play during the 2022-23 season. But in his first year, Madsen coached California to a 9-11 mark in the conference.

More on his coaching and playing career

Madsen was widely considered one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the profession prior to his hire by the Golden Bears.

He helped lead Utah Valley to the semifinals of the 2023 NIT. During that campaign he was named the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the year. Utah Valley won two conference titles under his watch.

Mark Madsen also finished as a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award, presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball.

While at Utah Valley, Madsen put together a 70-51 (.578) overall record, with a 39-25 (.609) mark in conference play. The program put together back-to-back 20-win seasons in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns.

The success included a school record 28 wins in 2022-23, with an impressive 15-3 mark in WAC play.

Madsen’s college experience is actually fairly minimal, though, as he got his coaching start at the NBA level. He spent 2013-19 with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he helped coach NBA superstars LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash. Madsen also spent his first playing seasons with the Lakers, wearing the Los Angeles jersey from 2000-03.

He then spent six years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, playing there from 2003-09.

He is a two-time NBA champion, winning titles in 2001 and 2002 in Los Angeles. He was also a two-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection in 1999 and 2000 while playing at Stanford.

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this article.