Few to HOF? Seth Davis says yes.

[kitzbuel]

In The Athletic's series on Snubbed HOF candidates, Seth Davis makes an argument for Mark Few's immediate admission to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The record alone is Hall of Fame worthy: 21 years without missing an NCAA Tournament, a winning percentage of 82.8 (90.4 in conference), winning or sharing the league regular-season title 19 times (and finishing second the other two), nine Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and one appearance in the national championship game.

Seth does a nice job of laying out Coach Few's on-going contributions to Gonzaga, the Spokane community, and the game along with innovations in recruiting while playing by the rules.

Gonzaga has produced four first-team All-Americans, three of whom were also academic All-Americans. One player, Adam Morrison, was a national Player of the Year. And in all his years on the bench, Few has only had one senior who failed to graduate. Gonzaga is routinely near the top of the national rankings in Academic Progress Rate. The program has done all this with nary a whiff of the NCAA scandals that have attached themselves to so many of its power conference brethren.

Great read.

https://theathletic.com/1804586/2020...rce=dailyemail

[GuZag2012]

Great article...thanks for sharing!


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[zagfan08]

Easily yes. No one in NCAA history has built up a program like Few has. Last place in the WCC when he arrived as an assistant.

[LongIslandZagFan]

Wait... Fitz was at GU in 1977 and there were recruiting violations back then? Think Seth's dates are a bit off there. Also, Spokane was re-shaping itself well before this run.

That being said... great article.

[gonzagafan62]

Not even debatable. Few to HOF

[jsnider]

It’s a great article and I wouldn’t want any other coach leading Gonzaga. Zero!!

[MickMick]

Put any legendary coach in Mark Few's shoes about 20 years ago. Which ones would match what he has done?

I would argue that you could count the number on one hand.

[willandi]

Isn't the HOF restricted to those that have required 40-50 years to accomplish what Few has done?

[MDABE80]

Huge amount of unmatched information on Coach Few. Each category is stunning and has a take home message for each of us. For me, having only one kid not graduating in decades at the helm is the clincher. With all the variables each kid brings with him, it’s just an amazing statistic.

[LongIslandZagFan]

Huge amount of unmatched information on Coach Few. Each category is stunning and has a take home message for each of us. For me, having only one kid not graduating in decades at the helm is the clincher. With all the variables each kid brings with him, it’s just an amazing statistic.

Great point Abe.

[hockeyzag]

Just curious, who was the senior who failed to graduate?

[Gonzdb8]

if he was in a power conference would this be more of a sure thing than it already is? seth suggests thats the case but sounds a little conspiratorial.

also, yes, great read. a subscription to the athletic is probably the best media dollars i've spent in a long time.

[GoZags]

Just curious, who was the senior who failed to graduate?

It was a j.c. transfer that hadn't/hasn't completed the work for his degree. No need to call him out (in my opinion)

[GoZags]

Wait... Fitz was at GU in 1977 and there were recruiting violations back then? Think Seth's dates are a bit off there. Also, Spokane was re-shaping itself well before this run.

That being said... great article.

Correct. It was a typo ... and there were no recruiting violations. There was an accounting/institutional control violation (parking $$ and WCC reimbursements for officials did not get logged into the official "books"). The amount was so low (over a long time period) that GU suffered no penalty other than probation.

[MDABE80]

It was a j.c. transfer that hadn't/hasn't completed the work for his degree. No need to call him out (in my opinion)

Agree. Long gone.

[jazzdelmar]

And not a single blemish.

[JPtheBeasta]

Correct. It was a typo ... and there were no recruiting violations. There was an accounting/institutional control violation (parking $$ and WCC reimbursements for officials did not get logged into the official "books"). The amount was so low (over a long time period) that GU suffered no penalty other than probation.

I seem to recall some crazy stories about how low the recruiting budget was and that the coaches would borrow or use a junker car that they had down there in California when going on recruiting visits. Am I remembering that properly?

ETA: They would borrow a car from a car dealership of a Gonzaga booster, and one time the bumper fell off while driving it to a recruit’s house.

In searching for that story, I found that Coach Few, from early on as an assistant, went against the norms in the program and recruited PAC-10 talent when he was supposed to be focusing on lesser talent that the coach thought he could actually get. He thought big from the beginning, it seems.

[gonstu]

A true no-brainer.

[LongIslandZagFan]

Just curious, who was the senior who failed to graduate?

FERPA will make sure we'll never know unless that senior decides to tell the world.

[ZAG 4 LIFE]

I seem to recall some crazy stories about how low the recruiting budget was and that the coaches would borrow or use a junker car that they had down there in California when going on recruiting visits. Am I remembering that properly?

ETA: They would borrow a car from a car dealership of a Gonzaga booster, and one time the bumper fell off while driving it to a recruit’s house.

In searching for that story, I found that Coach Few, from early on as an assistant, went against the norms in the program and recruited PAC-10 talent when he was supposed to be focusing on lesser talent that the coach thought he could actually get. He thought big from the beginning, it seems.

I was on the staff for a couple of years in the mid-80’s... trust me those stories are true.
I personally drove a donated car back to Spokane from LA after we played LMU and Pepp...
It was a “very used” station wagon that would remind you of the “family truckster” that
Chevy Chase drove in the Family Vacation movie. We had great names for the donated vehicles,
Which included “Baretta” and “The Love Boat” - as bad as they were... we needed them for
Recruiting and scouting and they were appreciated so much because they allowed us to put
miles on these Donated vehicles instead of our own cars all the time. Great memories.

[JPtheBeasta]

I was on the staff for a couple of years in the mid-80’s... trust me those stories are true.
I personally drove a donated car back to Spokane from LA after we played LMU and Pepp...
It was a “very used” station wagon that would remind you of the “family truckster” that
Chevy Chase drove in the Family Vacation movie. We had great names for the donated vehicles,
Which included “Baretta” and “The Love Boat” - as bad as they were... we needed them for
Recruiting and scouting and they were appreciated so much because they allowed us to put
miles on these Donated vehicles instead of our own cars all the time. Great memories.

Thanks for sharing this. It's absolutely amazing how far things have come.

It got me wondering what they roll up to a recruit's house in now...

[nonzagzag]

I think he has the 2nd highest winning percentage of all time?

[Malastein]

If Mark Few is not a slam dunk for the Hall of Fame, then I do not know a single thing about sports. The best part is that he appears ready to win a National Championship in the near future. He’s had a few teams that were a piece or two off, but all signs are positive with recent recruiting. I’m really hoping next year’s team gets to compete as they are on paper the most exciting team I’ve seen.

[jsnider]

Right on Malastein. Your last sentence is exactly how I feel. I go back and forth every day depending on the news. I live down in the LA area - they have extended our stay at home ordinance for another 3 months through at least the end of July. In addition the Cal State University system will not have students back in the fall semester. So, today I am down and worried about Gonzaga/WCC basketball next year.

But to stay on the topic. There is no better coach than Mark Few.

[sittingon50]

I think he has the 2nd highest winning percentage of all time?

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...ch-career.html