You are here
Taxi! Cal Golden Bears Coach Ben Braun Fired
Ben Braun is out at Cal after 12 seasons as the Golden Bears' head coach. (AP Images)
Sure, 12 years is a long time to be in once place. But even the most comfortable stays can get wear out their welcome...especially if you aren't going to the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis.
Such was the case for University of California mens basketball coach Ben Braun today, as he was fired from his job for not getting the team into the Madness of March since 2003. Braun came from Eastern Michigan in 1996 and took over a program rocked by the NCAA infractions by former coach Todd Bozeman.
Braun had some early success at Cal and will leave the school with a 219-154 record, five NCAA tournament berths and three National Invitation Tournaments. There is no doubt that the high point of the Braun era came in 1996-97, when the Golden Bears made it all the way to the Sweet 16 (led by Sean Marks and Michael Stewart) and he earned Pac-10 coach of the year honors.
The Cal job is widely considered one of the best coaching gigs in the West. Celebrated players such as Jason Kidd, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Kevin Johnson and Lamond Murray have graduated from the program and made it one of the elite in the Pac-10. Early speculation has former Stanford and Golden State Warriors head coach Mike Montgomery as a leading candidate to take over.