Mark Few Coach of the Year Awards Thread

[Sarenyon]

Two good articles about how Few should be COY... not too much new, but glad he is getting more and more conversation, as he should.

http://www.slipperstillfits.com/2017/2/14/14542698/gonzaga-bulldogs-mark-few-national-coach-of-the-year

http://www.fanragsports.com/cbb/why-mark-few-should-win-the-coach-of-the-year-award/

Hope the links work.

[zagfan24]

If GU goes 32-0, and he ISN'T named coach of the year, that would only speak to his incredible career prior to now. He has set his baseline so high that even this (thus-far) undefeated season has only recently gotten him much recognition. It also speaks to Few's lack of interest in self-promotion. The team, not the coach, is the brand at GU and his humility sets an example for all others in the program.

As to this year specifically, it's easy to look at a sweet 16 team last year and forget that a) they were hardly a lock for the tournament and b) they lost 2 NBA players off of that team. Yes, the Zags brought in a lot of talent, but many new faces. We haven't had a single digit win in conference, and only 3 all year. It's remarkable, to say the least.

[NotoriousZ]

He's got my vote. The man must be getting better every year because I find myself questioning his decisions (we GUBoard experts are good at that) less and less. It's probably going to come down to him and Baylor's coach, but I can't imagine Few not getting it if we go undefeated heading into the tournament.

[seacatfan]

He's got my vote. The man must be getting better every year because I find myself questioning his decisions (we GUBoard experts are good at that) less and less. It's probably going to come down to him and Baylor's coach, but I can't imagine Few not getting it if we go undefeated heading into the tournament.

Baylor's coach? They're totally fading.

[RenoZag]

$.02

As more of the national media types weigh in on the Zags, I have the impression those guys are really pulling for "Fewie." There was an article ( Feinstein ? ) linked on this MBB where Gary Williams called Few " a great coach." When the Zags faced Coach K two seasons ago, he was also very complimentary of Few and the GU program. Izzo and Bill Self have also had positive things to say, as did Arizona's Sean Miller.

I'm just a knucklehead Zag grad living vicariously through the drama and excitement of this season ( and every season, for that matter ). Should the Zags make a deep, deep run, I'll be happy for the players, for the fans, and for my alma mater. But I think I'll feel the happiest for Mark Few. I think he's paid his dues and deserves to get the skeptics off his backside.

[CDC84]

As I keep saying, if you consider that PK only played a few games last season, 6 of the 8 players in Few's main rotation didn't play for Gonzaga last season. I don't care how much talent he has, what he has done has been impressive.

Gary Williams has been a long time Few supporter, and I think I know why. He sees himself in Few. Williams was chastised for years and years at Maryland for never getting the Terps to the final four. And then all of a sudden he got Juan Dixon. Final four one year, national championship the next.

[jpn17]

If Duke rattles off some wins to close out the season, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Krzyzewski wins it. Having to deal with the Allen situation and the surgery, the media/voters will be all over that.

[MBAGael]

I have been coaching basketball for years now, along with teaching Econ at smc, what impressed me this year was how quickly he was able to get the team to gel on the court. I expected you to have some hiccups in the preseason leading to a loss or two, but you didn't.

I sit behind the visitors bench, when karno came out of the game irate about a non foul call (they taped his ankle), mark was right there. He looked him right in the eye and listened to his entire rant. Then he calmly talked to him about it and what to do. Watching the entire thing made me believe that this is a coach who knows how to relate and cares about his players. I was more impressed with him (empathetic is the word for it) after witnessing this exchange.

[Zagceo]

I have been coaching basketball for years now, along with teaching Econ at smc, what impressed me this year was how quickly he was able to get the team to gel on the court. I expected you to have some hiccups in the preseason leading to a loss or two, but you didn't.

I sit behind the visitors bench, when karno came out of the game irate about a non foul call (they taped his ankle), mark was right there. He looked him right in the eye and listened to his entire rant. Then he calmly talked to him about it and what to do. Watching the entire thing made me believe that this is a coach who knows how to relate and cares about his players. I was more impressed with him (empathetic is the word for it) after witnessing this exchange.

Thanks for sharing

[Zagguy]

We sit behind opponents bench (couple rows up) and have had the opportunity to see and hear many coaches coach...or not coach. Seeing how they make eye contact, engage their players and enforce their game plans has been enlightening. Romo is no Izzo and Huggy was a treat. Thank you for your insights, MBAGael. Agree that Few is a great coach!

[RenoZag]

Jeff Goodman handicapped in a column today the national COY race via an ESPN Insider article: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...nal-coach-year

He lists them this way:

1, Drew
2. Miller
3. Wright
4. Few
5. Self
6. White
7. Hamilton
8. Pastner
9. Jankovich
10. Collins

His notes re: Coach Few:

The Zags are undefeated, at 26-0, and have run the table thus far in the WCC, with 14 straight wins. That's enough to put Few in the equation. Gonzaga has swept Saint Mary's and has knocked off Arizona, Florida and Iowa State on neutral courts. You can't do more than what Few has done thus far with this group.

[MontanaCoyote]

Thanks for sharing

Yes! These personal stories are "few" and far between. Thanks for posting!

[ZagNative]

Yahoo's The Dagger publishes four writers' top five picks for Coach of the Year. Coach Few is included in all top five. The writer who picked Mark Few #1 is Henry Bushnell, who says of Mark Few:

I consider Coach of the Year voting in different terms than most. Many look for teams that have outperformed expectations, and simply pick the head honcho at that program. I look for, well … the best coach. Or the coach that has done the best job of building the team he currently has and winning games with that team. I subscribe to the theory that Gregg Popovich should win the NBA version of the award (almost) every year, and the college version of the award goes even further beyond performance relative to expectations, because much of what a college coach does — recruiting and developing talent — determines where those expectations are set.

So imagine this: There’s one team that hasn’t lost a game. It is 27-0. Every other team has lost at least twice. That one team ranks No. 1 in the country in adjusted efficiency margin by more than five points per 100 possessions. And it came into the season outside the top 10 in every major preseason poll or set of rankings.

Then imagine that that team’s eight-man rotation comprises three transfers, two freshmen, one former four-star recruit, one former three-star recruit, and a sparsely recruited center from Poland who came into his fifth season less than a year removed from serious back surgery.

That team is Gonzaga, and Mark Few has built a powerhouse at the small, private, Catholic university in Spokane, Washington. Amazingly, his best team yet at a program built on stability is one that experienced a ton of roster turnover. The Bulldogs rank 319th nationally in minutes continuity, slightly above perennial one-and-done factory Kentucky, and 28 spots lower than any other top-12 team. Few has integrated transfers and freshmen expertly, has spent hours upon hours working with and sticking by Przemek Karnowski, and is an irrepressible choice for Coach of the Year.

[MickMick]

I can live with all of the bull$%&^ grief on message boards that treat GU like a favorite whipping boy, but I can't live with supposedly competent sports journalists that are not diving in head first for Mark Few. Cripes.....he should have won this award a long time ago.

I'm so sick of these subjective beauty contests. The sports award shows that emulate the Academy Awards are nothing more than a means for sports pundits to impose their will. They can't affect the scores, or the outcomes of games, so they find any little niche possible to leave their mark. To them, the sporting world is a fire hydrant, and they are the dogs. If the narrative doesn't smell like them, they will lift their leg, pee all over it, and make sure that the narrative does smell like them. The next dog that approaches will sniff, dutifully lift his leg to impose his scent, and so on. After enough iterations, nothing smells like basketball anymore, but everything reeks of journalistic piss. They have their own little competition going on and they believe it is just as important as the basketball games themselves.

Screw the guys that don't have Mark Few at the top of the list. Screw them all to hell. They disgust me.

[NumberCruncher]

I can live with all of the bull$%&^ grief on message boards that treat GU like a favorite whipping boy, but I can't live with supposedly competent sports journalists that are not diving in head first for Mark Few. Cripes.....he should have won this award a long time ago.

I'm so sick of these subjective beauty contests. The sports award shows that emulate the Academy Awards are nothing more than a means for sports pundits to impose their will. They can't affect the scores, or the outcomes of games, so they find any little niche possible to leave their mark. To them, the sporting world is a fire hydrant, and they are the dogs. If the narrative doesn't smell like them, they will lift their leg, pee all over it, and make sure that the narrative does smell like them. The next dog that approaches will sniff, dutifully lift his leg to impose his scent, and so on. After enough iterations, nothing smells like basketball anymore, but everything reeks of journalistic piss. They have their own little competition going on and they believe it is just as important as the basketball games themselves.

Screw the guys that don't have Mark Few at the top of the list. Screw them all to hell. They disgust me.

Wow, I mean WOW!!! Absolutely best post ever!!!