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n the last Monday in February, after a pair of blowout wins against Santa Clara and San Diego, Few is standing, arms crossed over a long-sleeved Gonzaga T-shirt, looking out as his players shoot around before practice. Reporters are asking at the time how it feels to be the second-ranked team in the country, and he’s giving boilerplate responses about how they’ve earned it and how it’s nice to get the recognition. From the court, a shot goes awry and the ball rolls his way. Arms still crossed, still talking to the reporter, he gives the ball a kick. It lasers to the chest of senior forward Guy Landry Edi, who catches it. “Niiiiice,” Edi says with a smile at the coach who recruited him from a junior college in Texas. Few doesn’t smile. In the style fans have become familiar with during the past 14 seasons, he’s stone-faced, always with an eye out on the court as he fields a few more questions about what it means to be ranked this high, and to have accomplished yet
another first for a coach who has spent most of his career exceeding the expectations of those around him. “He’s one of the best coaches in the country. I’d put him up there with anybody,” says Bilas. Few, already a longtime assistant coach by the time he
took over from Monson after the Zags’ 1999 Elite Eight run, has won about 80 percent of the time, while facing an increasingly tough non-conference schedule. He’s also a successor to the late coach (and athletic director) Dan Fitzgerald, who former players and coaches credit with ...continued on next page
Head coach Mark Few started his career at Gonzaga as a young graduate assistant. Today, he’s one of college basketball’s leaders in win percentage. Young Kwak photo
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