California men’s basketball’s coaching staff is now complete, with head coach Mark Fox adding veteran coaches Andrew Francis, Chris Harriman and Trent Johnson, and retaining Marty Wilson, the program announced today.
Francis, Harriman and Wilson will serve as assistants on Fox’s staff,
while Johnson joins the staff as an analyst for the program.
Read more about each coach below, and click each name to read a full biography:
Assistant Coach Andrew Francis
Francis joins the Golden Bears with nearly two decades of Division I
coaching experience, including stints under Fran McCaffery at Iowa and
Jay Wright at Villanova.
Praised for his tireless recruiting efforts and player development,
Francis served the Hawkeyes for nine seasons and was a member of the
longest-tenured coaching staff in Division I basketball after becoming
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s first hire in April 2010. During his
time in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes averaged 20 wins in eight consecutive
seasons and won at least 18 games per season for six straight seasons
(2012-17), while attendance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena increased by more
than 50 percent. The Hawkeyes were one of just three teams to finish in
the upper division of the Big Ten in at least six of his last seven
seasons.
“Andrew has worked side-by-side with an outstanding coach in Fran
McCaffery for more than a decade,” Fox said. “His contacts across the
entire country will be a tremendous benefit to our program. I have
admired his ability and his impact on young people for many years.”
In Francis’ final season with the Hawkeyes, Iowa amassed 23 victories –
the program’s second-highest total in more than a decade – and was
nationally ranked for 16 consecutive weeks. With his help over the last
decade, Iowa regained its footing as a national powerhouse, achieving
its highest ranking since 1987 when the Hawkeyes earned a No. 3 ranking
in January 2016. The Hawkeyes were ranked in both major polls in each of
the final 11 weeks of the 2016 season. While in 2013, Iowa tallied 25
wins and reached the NIT Championship game.
During his tenure, Jarrod Uthoff was named an All-American, while eight
student-athletes earned All-Big Ten status, including Tyler Cook (2018),
Peter Jok (2017), Uthoff (2016), Aaron White (2015) and Roy Devyn
Marble (2014). Jok also became the Big Ten scoring champion after
averaging 19.9 points per game. Francis helped develop frontcourt
players Gabriel Olaseni and Nicholas Baer, who were each voted Big Ten
Sixth Man of the Year in 2015 and 2017, respectively. He also helped
coach six All-Big Ten Freshman performers (Eric May in 2010; Melsahn
Basabe in 2011; White in 2012; Jordan Bohannon and Tyler Cook in 2017;
Joe Wieskamp in 2019).
Francis also served under McCaffery at Siena from 2007-10, helping with
the team’s recruiting, player development and scouting efforts as an
assistant coach and guiding the Saints to three consecutive conference
titles and NCAA Tournament berths. He arrived in Loudonville after a
two-year stint under Jay Wright at Villanova University beginning in
August 2005, where he was the administrative assistant and video
coordinator for Wright.
A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Francis played basketball at Fulton Montgomery
Community College in Johnstown, New York, before completing his college
career under Sidney Green at Long Island University-Southampton. He
graduated in 1998 with a degree in marketing and management.
“I’m tremendously excited and honored to have this opportunity to work
at a world-class institution like Cal, and to work for a successful,
highly respected coach in Coach Fox,” Francis said.
Assistant Coach Chris Harriman
A native of Sydney, Australia, Harriman joins Fox’s staff with a
renowned repertoire of international recruiting prowess and global
knowledge of the game and a coaching pedigree that includes assistant
stops under Rick Majerus, Tim Miles and Paul Weir.
“Chris brings a wealth of experience and contacts in basketball from
across the globe,” Fox said. “He trained under the great Rick Majerus
and has been an exceptional recruiter. I am excited to add someone with
great international experience and basketball expertise to our Cal
basketball family.”
Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander named Harriman one of the “Top 5
Up-and-Coming Division I Assistants” on CBS Sports, with Norlander
writing, “Few guys have the international networking and contacts like
Harriman. He’s the long-term valuable hire, the guy who finds the gem
buried under 20 feet of mud.” Additionally, national basketball insider
Jeff Goodman named Harriman one of the top three international
recruiters in Division I college basketball.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to have this amazing opportunity. You
don’t have to be born in the U.S. to appreciate the incredible
reputation Cal has as the No. 1 public university in the world,”
Harriman said. “I came here to be part of the Cal family and to share in
the great traditions, but more importantly I came here to help Coach
Fox build a great basketball program. Having the opportunity to work for
someone I respect and admire and is a teacher of the game made this
move a no-brainer for me.”
Harriman arrives in Berkeley after four seasons as the associate head
coach at the University of New Mexico, where he oversaw all aspects of
the basketball program, including scheduling, recruiting and player
development. In 2017-18, Harriman helped the Lobos finish third in the
Mountain West in the regular season after being selected to finish ninth
overall. New Mexico earned a Mountain West Tournament first-round bye
and reached the conference title game for the first time since 2014.
With his guidance, Antino Jackson developed as an All-Mountain West
Defensive Team selection while Anthony Mathis became one of the Lobos’
all-time 3-point leaders and a two-time All-Mountain West Third Team
selection.
Off the court, Harriman helped guide Lobo student-athletes to two CoSIDA
Academic All-District selections, eight NABC Honors Court awards and
eight Academic All-Conference nods. Harriman’s 2016 New Mexico squad
recorded a team grade point average of 3.03 in 2016, earning the program
the NABC Team Excellence Award.
Prior to his time in the Pit, Harriman spent three seasons as an
assistant at Nebraska under Tim Miles, and in 2013-14 Nebraska made the
NCAA Tournament for the first time in 15 years.
He studied under the late Rick Majerus as an assistant coach at Saint
Louis from 2008 to 2012. Working side-by-side with Majerus, Harriman
helped the Billikens to a pair of 20-win seasons as they improved from
the ninth-place team in the Atlantic 10 in 2008 to a second-place finish
in his last year in 2012. In his final year at SLU, Harriman helped
develop the Billikens into an NCAA top 25 leader in scoring defense,
scoring margin, turnover margin and turnovers per game, advancing to the
NCAA Tournament round of 32.
“I was very fortunate to work for one of the greatest teachers in
college basketball, the late Rick Majerus. I remember Coach Majerus
referring often to Pete Newell as a great teacher of basketball, and a
coach who was influential in his mental approach to the game. So many
of the things I was able to learn from Coach Majerus had their roots in
Coach Newell and Cal- basketball,” Harriman added.
He began his coaching career at Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale,
Fla. where he helped the team to 48 wins over a four-year span.
Prior to coaching, Harriman was a standout guard for the Augusta State
(Ga.) Jaguars of the NCAA Division II’s Peach Belt Conference. During
his playing career, the guard helped guide Augusta State to PBC division
titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. He wrapped up his college
career with 627 points and 375 assists for the Jaguars before spending
the 2003-04 season with the Hunter Valley Pirates. Harriman was the
runner-up for the National Basketball League’s Rookie of the Year award
for the Pirates as the top first-year player in Australia’s NBL.
Assistant Coach Marty Wilson
Wilson, a longtime head coach at Pepperdine, will remain on Fox’s staff
as an assistant coach. He originally joined the Bears as an assistant
under Wyking Jones in April of 2018.
“I have known Marty for more than a quarter of a century and his
knowledge of the West Coast, the Pac-12 and of our current situation
will be of great value as we begin to rebuild this program,” Fox said.
“He has already been extremely helpful in the transition and I know he
will continue to serve this program at a high level.”
During Wilson’s first season with the Bears, the squad ranked within the
Pac-12’s top three in steals (3rd, 7.6 spg), turnover margin (2nd,
+2.8), and Cal ended the regular season with three consecutive
victories, sweeping the Washington schools and winning at Stanford.
“I truly appreciate the opportunity and I am extremely excited to be a
part of Coach Fox’s staff,” Wilson said. “Our relationship goes back
almost 25 years, and we share a valuable mentor who has shaped our
philosophies. I believe Coach Fox will do great things here at Cal that
everyone can be proud of.”
Wilson spent 21 total seasons in Malibu, starting as a student-athlete
for the Waves and compiling an impressive record. As a head coach,
Wilson helped transform the Waves from a 10-win team in his first season
to back-to-back 18-win seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, marking their
first consecutive winning seasons since 2001-03. Pepperdine finished
fourth in the West Coast Conference in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons,
and the 2015 squad allowed just 61.6 points and finished the season
second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.0
percent).
Off the court, Wilson helped guide 21 of his 22 student-athletes who
exhausted their eligibility to degrees. Malte Kramer was the program’s
first Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American and co-valedictorian at
the university.
Prior to becoming head coach in 2011, Wilson served as the associate
head coach for the Waves under Tom Asbury beginning in 2008. He rejoined
Pepperdine after coaching stints at San Diego (1996-98), UC Santa
Barbara (1998-2004) and Utah (2004-08).
Men’s Basketball Analyst Trent Johnson
Johnson returns to the Bay Area and reunites with Fox to serve as a men’s basketball analyst in a special assistant role, joining the Golden Bears after a 17-year head coaching career and nearly four decades in the collegiate coaching business.
“Trent Johnson has been a part of my family for nearly three decades. His commitment to developing young people is second to none,” Fox said. “Across his coaching career, he won league championships at Nevada, Stanford and LSU, and his expertise and experience will be a valuable part of our program.”
A Berkeley, Calif., native, Johnson helmed the men’s basketball programs at Nevada (1999-2004), where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013, as well as at Stanford (2004-08), LSU (2008-2012) and TCU (2012-16). He also served as a collegiate assistant coach at Utah (1986-89), Washington (1989-92), Rice (1992-96), Stanford (1996-99) and Louisville (2017-18).
In his analyst role for the Bears, Johnson will support day-to-day student-athlete development and mentorship off the court, plus serve as an assistant to Fox. His head coaching experience will help guide the Bears in game planning and scouting, plus opponent analysis.
“I am thrilled to be able to reunite with Coach Fox while we work to build something special here in Berkeley,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to mentoring our guys as we develop high-character, high-caliber young men in the great tradition of Cal Athletics.”
A former member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors, Johnson’s teams made five NCAA Tournament appearances, including reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 at Nevada and Stanford and reached the postseason eight total times, with three trips to the National Invitation Tournament. Johnson, who owned a 276-264 record as a head coach, has been honored as the conference coach of the year in three different leagues (2003 WAC, 2008 Pac-10 and 2009 SEC).
https://calbears.com/news/2019/4/18/mens-basketball-mark-fox-completes-coaching-staff.aspx