Mark Few

Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few has established himself as one of the most successful coaches in NCAA Division I basketball annals in his 24 seasons at the helm, and in the process has made Bulldog basketball a household name across the country. He served as an assistant coach at GU for 10 seasons prior to take the reins of the program.

Few has put together one of the most dominating runs in NCAA history, especially in the West Coast Conference. The Zags have won or shared 22 regular season league titles in his 24 seasons (all but the 1999-2000 and 2011-12 season) and taken home the conference tournament championship 19 times. The Bulldogs won or shared 11 straight West Coast Conference regular-season titles from 2000-11 and from 2012-23, which are the third-best streaks all-time in the NCAA Division I ranks behind UCLA's 13 Pac-10 Conference titles from 1967-79 and Kansas's 14 Big 12 Conference titles from 2005-18.

Few led Gonzaga to the national championship game in the program's first-ever Final Four in 2017, and again in the second Final Four in 2021. Under Few, GU has appeared in five Elite Eight appearances (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023) and 12 Sweet 16 appearances (2000, '01, '06, '09, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '21, ‘22, '23). He has coached 21 All-Americans, nine Academic All-Americans, 98 all-conference selections, 17 WCC Players of the Year, 10 league newcomers of the year and nine league defenders of the year. Few has also cultivated NBA talent, including current NBA players in Domantas Sabonis, Kelly Olynyk, Zach Collins, Rui Hachimura, Brandon Clarke, Jalen Suggs, Corey Kispert, Chet Holmgren, Andrew Nembhard, Julian Strawther and Filip Petrusev. He also helped recruit and develop Dan Dickau, Richie Frahm, Adam Morrison, Jeremy Pargo, Elias Harris, Austin Daye, Rob Sacre, Ronny Turiaf, Kevin Pangos, Killian Tillie and Joel Ayayi, all NBA players. Morrison was the highest-drafted player in GU history when he was taken No. 3 overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006, but Holmgren was taken second overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2022 draft.

For all that Few has accomplished on the court, his achievements off of it are equally impressive. In 2002, Mark and his wife Marcy initiated the Spokane branch of Coaches vs Cancer. The Few's annual event would become the largest Coaches vs Cancer fundraiser across the country. Quietly and without fanfare, Few has created a culture of giving at Gonzaga. In 2007, Gonzaga began hosting the Ronald McDonald House Charities Classic. For six seasons, these annual games helped raise over $750,000 for Spokane's Ronald McDonald House.

Building on their success with Coaches vs Cancer, the Fews and others in the Spokane region launched the Community Cancer Fund in 2014 to keep more money in the local market while devoting more resources to cancer patients, their families and the local organizations that serve them. In the last six years, the Community Cancer Fund has raised over 17 million dollars bringing the total raised over 18 years between the organizations to well over 25 million dollars.

Among the highlights, the charity established a 3-million-dollar endowment to fund Camp Good Times, a week-long summer camp for kids with cancer. And this year, the Community Cancer Fund worked to increase lodging options for cancer patients and their families traveling to the region for treatment, which included the completion and opening of a 5-million-dollar Hospitality Center at Kootenai Health and a campus expansion of Spokane's Ronald McDonald House.

Few was recognized for his philanthropy in 2020 when he was honored at the Dick Vitale Gala that benefits The V Foundation for Cancer Research, and in 2008, as a recipient of the Nell and John Wooden Coaching Achievement Award by the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.