‘It doesn’t accidentally happen.’ Mark Few’s Hall of Fame nomination puts Gonzaga coach in ‘rarefied air’

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Dec. 26—It’s a line of questioning Mike Roth got frequently during a 24-year tenure as Gonzaga’s athletic director. Probably more times than he can count.

Colleagues at other schools with similar profiles, hoping to replicate Gonzaga’s formula, would reach out for tips, pointers, pieces of advice, anything that could help get them on the right track.

“My phone used to ring all the time, I’m sure (current AD) Chris (Standiford’s) still rings with people wanting to know, you know, ‘How are you doing it? How are we getting done? What’s the secret sauce?’ ” Roth said.

The recipe? Fairly simple.

Recreating it? Not quite as straightforward.

“Well, you know, hire Mark Few as your head coach,” Roth said. “He made me look a lot smarter than I am.”

Few, now in his 26th year at Gonzaga, the recipient of multiple Naismith Coach of the Year honors and 14 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year selections, recently became a first-time nominee for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, joining a class of candidates that includes Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird, Dwight Howard, Doc Rivers, Maya Moore and one other college coach, Billy Donovan, a two-time national champion at Florida.

Gonzaga submitted paperwork to nominate Few, who recently became eligible for the Hall of Fame, and the university worked with the Naismith Basketball Foundation during its run-up to playing UConn on Dec. 14 in the Naismith Hall of Fame Game at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“In my mind, he’s already in the Hall of Fame,” said Standiford, who replaced Roth as Gonzaga’s AD in 2021 after spending 28 years at the school in other capacities, including assistant AD. “His accomplishments speak for themselves, it’s just a matter of time before they’re recognized.

“For me, his contributions to the game are already well documented and chronicled and already acknowledged too, right, in many ways. So to me, I actually I didn’t expect it to get as much — I didn’t I didn’t expect to see it celebrated in the way that it was…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/doesnt-accidentally-happen-mark-fews-030200672.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-12-27 03:02:00

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