In what can only be described as a startling upset, Cal made a shrewd hire to fill its basketball coaching vacancy. The Bears on Wednesday selected Mark Madsen to revive the program and, in the process, flipped the script on their Bay Area rival.
Four months after Stanford hired a former Golden Bear, Troy Taylor, to resuscitate its football operation, Cal appointed a former Cardinal star, Madsen, to salvage a product that has sunk to unprecedented depths.
In that regard, Cal men’s basketball reflects the general state of affairs in Berkeley, where football is struggling for traction, women’s basketball is floundering and athletic director Jim Knowlton is under investigation