Mark Few's loyalty, pedigree pay off with admittance to basketball's most exclusive club | Dave Boling
Mar. 31—As Mark Few's coaching accolades accumulated over the years, this ultimate honor seemed increasingly inevitable. That doesn't lessen the enormity of the recognition.
Reports leaked out Tuesday that the Gonzaga men's basketball coach will be among the 2026 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of inductees announced Saturday. It doesn't get bigger than this. But maybe it should, given the degree of difficulty involved.
Consider the astronomical odds against a coach lifting a program of limited resources to a sustained position among the national elite as Few has at Gonzaga. This should prompt additional enshrinement into a Hall of Highly Improbable Fame. Few's nearly 800 career wins and consistent NCAA Tournament success (27 straight tournaments) will be noted as key factors in his induction.
Expand the resume to include two National Coach of the Year awards, an Olympic gold medal as an assistant on Team USA, and the highest winning percentage for active men's college coaches. But there are a few other underlying elements that make this honor even more important to Few's community at Gonzaga and Spokane. For the very accomplished, highly creative, hyper-competitive people who seek elite levels of achievement, a career often becomes a chase.
Especially in the coaching profession, it involves a series of stair-step and springboard positions, climbing the career ladder. It is most often an individual journey. Coaches rise; schools remain in place, generally unchanged.