Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines throughout a period that has seen the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.mid-major obscurity to consistent NCAA tournament contenders. During his tenure as head coach, Few has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament every season (except 2019–20, when the team had secured an automatic bid but the tournament was canceled), a stretch that has garnered the Bulldogs recognition as a major basketball power despite playing in a mid-major conference.

Biography

Early life and education

Few was born in Creswell, Oregon, and was a star point guard at Creswell High School, graduating in 1981. He originally attended Linfield College, hoping to play basketball and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

, but he was troubled by the after effects of a dislocated shoulder he suffered while playing football as a senior at Creswell. He then transferred to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, hoping to play baseball there, but the

Ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a for ...

had dropped their varsity baseball program by the time he arrived in

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

. He graduated from Oregon with a BS in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explora ...

in 1987.

Coaching career

Assistant coach

Few entered the coaching profession even before receiving his degree, serving as an unpaid part-time assistant at his alma mater of Creswell High School starting in 1983, and advancing to a paid position from 1986 to 1988.Withers, ''BraveHearts'', p. 53. During this time, he also worked at Oregon's summer basketball camps. After a season as an assistant at another Oregon school, Sheldon High School in Eugene, he moved to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

, joining the Gonzaga staff as a graduate assistant in 1989 under

Dan Fitzgerald Daniel John Fitzgerald (March 3, 1942 – January 19, 2010) was an American college basketball coach and athletic director at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Fitzgerald was the head coach at Gonzaga for 15 seasons between 1978 and ...

. He had some familiarity with the program, as he had befriended Dan Monson, then a Gonzaga assistant and later the head coach, during his time working the Oregon basketball camps. In 1990, he was promoted to a full-time assistant. As an assistant, Few helped lead Gonzaga to its first four postseason appearances—the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

, and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

s and the 1995 NCAA tournament. In April 1999, Monson, who had just finished his second year as Gonzaga head coach, promoted Few to associate head coach. This was immediately following the season in which Gonzaga became the nation's basketball darlings, making a run through the NCAA tournament, defeating

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and

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, to advance to the Elite Eight. In the West Regional finals Gonzaga lost to eventual national champions UConn by five points. When Monson left in late July to take the open head coaching job at Minnesota, Few, who had been designated as Monson's successor, was promoted to head coach.

Head coach

Taking over after Monson's abrupt departure, Few was able to maintain the Gonzaga program's success from his very first season and prevent the Bulldogs from being a one-year wonder and sinking back into obscurity. He led them into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen each of the first two years. He was only the second head coach in the nation to achieve this feat since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The following year (2001–02), Few set an all-time record for NCAA Division I men's coaches by collecting 81 wins in his first three years as a head coach. The record stood until 2010 when Brad Stevens of Butler surpassed it. In 2017, Mark Few became the 3rd fastest coach to reach 500 wins in NCAA Division I history. The program's success has continued as Gonzaga has made the NCAA tournament in every one of Few's 21 completed seasons; indeed, he has been on hand for every postseason appearance in school history. The Bulldogs have also advanced to the WCC tournament title game in every season during Few's tenure. The Zags have won their way to every WCC Tournament championship game since 1998, and all but one since 1995. With Few as head coach, the Gonzaga program produced its first five first-team All-Americans in Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison, Kelly Olynyk, Nigel Williams-Goss, and Rui Hachimura. All five have played in the NBA, along with Richie Frahm, Blake Stepp, Ronny Turiaf, Austin Daye, Jeremy Pargo, Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Kevin Pangos,

David Stockton David Stockton (born June 24, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the NBA G League Ignite of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for Gonzaga University and is the son of Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton. High ...

, Domantas Sabonis, Kyle Wiltjer, Zach Collins, Johnathan Williams,

Brandon Clarke Brandon Clarke (born September 19, 1996) is a Canadian-American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Jose State Univ ...

, Zach Norvell,

Killian Tillie Killian Wiard Tillie (born 5 March 1998) is a French professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Listed at and , he plays the power forward and center positions. Tillie joi ...

, Joel Ayayi, Corey Kispert, and Jalen Suggs. Few was named the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Coach of the Year for six consecutive seasons (2001 through 2006). The 2006–07 season may well have been one of his better coaching jobs, as the team faced what could be called a "perfect storm": * Adam Morrison, a first-team All-America in 2005-06, chose to leave Gonzaga for the NBA with a year of eligibility left. *The Zags played an especially brutal nonconference schedule, with no fewer than nine opponents that would make the NCAA tournament. *The team's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder in 2006–07, Josh Heytvelt, was suspended after being arrested on drug charges in February 2007, and did not play again during the season. The Zags ended the regular season at 21–10, their first season with double digits in losses since 1997–98, which was also the last season to date in which they failed to make the NCAA tournament. It had generally been thought that Gonzaga would have to win the WCC tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. However, Gonzaga would go on to win the conference tournament, notably beating a Santa Clara team in the final that had earlier handed the Zags their first home-court loss in nearly four years. They would go out in the first round of the NCAA tournament to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. A year later, despite losing to San Diego in the conference title game, the Bulldogs garnered an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. On March 21, 2009, Few notched his 254th win as Gonzaga's head coach with a second-round victory in the NCAA Tournament, passing his former boss Fitzgerald as the winningest coach in school history. During the 2012-13 season, Few led the Bulldogs to the No. 2 ranking in both major polls, the highest national ranking at the time in school history. Few broke that record a week later when the Bulldogs surged to No. 1 in both polls for the first time. It was also the first time a WCC school had ascended to the top spot since

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1977. Gonzaga went on to receive its first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in school history, as well as a then school-record 32 wins. During the 2014-15 season, Few led the Zags back to the No. 2 ranking in both major polls, along with a then school-record 22-game winning streak. Few guided Gonzaga to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, his first Elite Eight appearance as head coach, and a then school-record 35 wins. In 2016-17, Few led the Zags to arguably their greatest season up to that point in school history. They stormed through the regular season, starting with a school-record 29-game winning streak, which also broke the record for consecutive wins to start a season. By February, they had surged back to No. 1 in the polls. The winning streak and No. 1 ranking were lost when the Bulldogs lost to BYU on February 25. As it turned out, it would be the Bulldogs' only loss of the regular season. Gonzaga went on to receive a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history, and advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history, losing to North Carolina in the National Championship. The Zags set a new school record with 37 wins, which was also tied for the second-most wins in NCAA Division I history. They also made the deepest NCAA Tournament run by a WCC team since San Francisco reached three consecutive Final Fours from 1955 to 1957. Few was named as the National Coach of the Year in 2016-17 by the Associated Press, Naismith, and the USBWA, awarded with the Henry Iba Award. In 2018-19, Few's No. 3 Gonzaga team defeated No. 1 Duke 89-87 in the Maui Invitational final to beat Duke for the first time and to beat a top-ranked team for the first time in team history. During the

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-shortened 2020-21 season, Few led Gonzaga to its first-ever undefeated regular and conference season at 26-0, he also ended the season with the longest current home win streak, a school record, at 51 games. It also marked the first time in school history that the Zags were ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Collegiate Coaches Polls for the entire season. Few also continued his consecutive conference tournament championship win streaks with 8, making him the only coach in NCAA history to reach 8 or more twice in his career. Few ended the season by breaking his old school record of 29 by winning 31 straight games from the start of the season before losing in the NCAA Championship game.

National team career

Few was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

of the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: * 15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak a ...

, where he led the US to a bronze medal. In 2019, Few was elected as the assistant coach of the national select team, a 13-player squad that helps the national team training. He helped the national team prepare for the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 that did not ...

Personal life

Few and his wife Marcy, married by his father in 1994, have three sons and one daughter. They have organized a charity golf tournament under the Coaches vs. Cancer umbrella. Since the tournament began in 2002, it has raised over $1 million for the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more tha ...

. Few is an avid fly fisherman. He has chosen to stay at Gonzaga in part to provide stability for himself and his family, turning away coaching offers from larger schools over the years. In 2021, Few was given a three-game suspension from his coaching position at Gonzaga following an arrest for DUI.

Awards, records and achievements

NCAA

Highest winning percentage (minimum 600 games) : Most consecutive tournament appearances since starting as head coach : 21 Only Coach to win 8 or more consecutive conference championships twice 3rd Fastest Coach to 500 Games (

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Uni ...

- 1st,

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

- 2nd) 3rd Fastest Coach to 600 Games (

- 1st,

- 2nd) 2nd most wins in first 3 seasons ( Brad Stevens) 2nd most wins in a season with 37 (Tied with Mike Krzyzewski twice, Bill Self, Bruce Weber &

have one each) (

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College ...

has 38, three times)

WCC Conference

Only coach to receive the Henry Iba Award in WCC Most consecutive seasons named WCC coach of the year: 6 Most seasons named WCC coach of the year: 13 Most WCC regular season wins: 291 Most consecutive WCC regular season wins: 40 Most consecutive WCC regular season road wins: 39 Most WCC regular season championships: 19 Most WCC tournament wins: 45 Most WCC tournament championships: 16 Most Consecutive WCC tournament championships: 11

Gonzaga

Most wins in school history: 633 Most undefeated regular seasons: 1 (26-0) Most wins in a season: 37 Best Season 31-1 Most consecutive wins to start a season: 31 (Few also holds the No. 2 spot at 29) Most consecutive wins: 31 Longest home court winning streak: 54 (still active) Most NCAA tournament appearances: 21 Most NCAA tournament wins: 36 Most NCAA championship game appearances: 2 Most final 4 appearances: 2 Most elite 8 appearances: 4 Most sweet 16 appearances: 11 Most round of 32 appearances: 18

Head coaching record

References

External links

Gonzaga profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Few, Mark 1962 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Oregon College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Linfield University alumni People from Creswell, Oregon Sportspeople from Spokane, Washington University of Oregon alumni