Final Four Spotlight: Few's loyalty, dedication fuel Gonzaga

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Without Mark Few, the Gonzaga name would never have had the chance to reverberate nationwide like it has in recent years.

Applications are up, money has been funneled into both the institution and the athletic department, and the basketball program has remained on the rise.

Many other coaches have decided to head to the power conference ranks, but not Few. He has stuck to his guns and built a consistent winner in Spokane. And now, he's on the precipice of a national championship.

Gonzaga had never even been to the NCAA Tournament until 1995. Few piggybacked on the string of wins achieved by Dan Monson and has created the well-oiled machine that is Gonzaga basketball.

Gonzaga is located in the relatively remote region of Eastern Washington and plays in a mid-major conference, the WCC. Other former mid-major head coaches like Thad Matta, Mark Turgeon and Todd Lickliter left their respective college programs before they could see each school reach extreme heights. Not Few, as the Zags' head coach has remained loyal to his perch thanks to a precise recruiting and player development philosophy that has kept him in Spokane all these years.

Whether it was discovering Ronny Turiaf, Kevin Pangos or Dan Dickau, the Zags have done a great job of cultivating both the international and local pipelines. It is this continued pursuit of the right targets that has paid dividends.

“He (Mark Few) has found a niche that other people aren’t as open to with the international players, taking a lot of transfers and is also able to hit on a select few of high major talents out of high school,” said Will Wade, LSU's head coach. “He has a team that stays old by taking kids from overseas and sit-out transfers, getting them better and hitting on his priority guys out of high school.”

Thanks to their run of success that began dating back to their first Elite 8 run in 1999, Gonzaga has been able to take a stab at a few top-50 prospects recently, including Zach Collins and Josh Perkins.

“I think he was smart; he stuck with what got him there and then was able to get slightly better high school kids and get slightly better transfers and get slightly better kids from overseas,” Wade said. “He stuck to his guns and he was able to keep getting better kids from the pool he still had deep connections to.”

The fact that Few has remained in Spokane this long is a testament to what he foresaw nearly 20 years ago. However, remaining true to his core beliefs and declining overtures from a place like Few's alma mater, Oregon, which was willing to throw a lump load of money, is never an easy thing to do.

“You have to have stability to do it. He had stability with his administration, he had stability within his staff and a lot of continuity,” Wade said.

While Wade decided it was his time to coach against the very best within the SEC after coaching at VCU the last four seasons, Phil Martelli has stuck to his guns and remained at St. Joe’s all of these years despite receiving interest from high-major suitors following his team’s great run in 2004.

“I have clearly not have had as many chances as Mark has had. but his love of family, and therefore, love of school, and community, has superseded all else for him,” Martelli said. “When you can get balance like Mark Few did, he decided his family being comfortable, every day, to get up and go to his work, not his job, I have tremendous respect for and I get it."

It is this love for his job, the school that he represents and the all that is Gonzaga which has enabled for an unprecedented run of success for a program that, 20 years ago, was impossible to find on the college basketball hierarchy.