‘It was a special summer’: Grant Hill presents Olympic ring to Gonzaga coach Mark Few

Grant Hill has been traveling quite a bit, presenting players, coaches and staff with Olympic rings in recognition of USA Basketball’s gold medal performance at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

The latest stop brought Hill to the McCarthey Athletic Center to deliver a ring to Gonzaga coach Mark Few just minutes before Thursday’s tipoff against San Francisco. Few joined Tyronn Lue and Erik Spoelstra as assistants on Steve Kerr’s staff. Only the players received gold medals.

“USA Basketball has been doing it for quite some time,” said Hill, managing director of the men’s national team. “I’ve been making the rounds, crisscrossing, and I’ve had a little help, but I’ve had the majority of them.

“As we get a little removed from last summer and everybody is in the middle of their seasons, everyone has appreciated the gesture. Some of the guys have been giddy just getting the rings. I don’t know if Mark was giddy, but he was very appreciative and grateful.”

“It was a special summer,” said Few, whose Zags defeated San Francisco 88-77. “I’m not a big ring wearer, I’m not a bling-bling guy, but I’ll cherish it and it’ll be put somewhere special with all the other stuff we got from USA (Basketball).”

Few and Hill caught up earlier in the day, reminiscing over their extended time in Paris and resuming their trash-talking about who is the better wakesurfer.

“First of all, it was so good to see him,” Few said. “We were 88 days together in back-to-back summers, literally every day. Most of the time our families weren’t there, so we’re having breakfast, lunch, dinner, meetings, practice, working out together.

“You develop quite a bond, quite a friendship, and he’s one of those really special guys. Just an incredible person, accomplished so much on the floor, off the floor, what he’s doing now. He’s just so approachable, so humble and so fun. It was just awesome to see him.”

Hill said Few was a seamless fit on the Olympic team’s coaching staff.

“The staff was absolutely incredible,” Hill said. “Sometimes you never know, you have four incredibly successful, accomplished individuals who are used to sort of being leaders of their own universe. It was incredible respect among the group, the way they collaborated and shared and exchanged ideas. It was really one of the highlights.

“I didn’t go into every meeting, but I went to a lot of dinners with them. Just the camaraderie and chemistry, and Mark played a big role in that. It was great, as the college guy, to see how much they loved him and respected him, and how much they went to him and valued what he had to offer. The games and the wins and medals, those are fantastic, but those connections and the time together last a lifetime.”

Hill, like many first-time visitors to the Kennel, pulled out his phone and took videos of the student section during the playing of “Zombie Nation” minutes before the game.

“You see it on TV and you get a chance to come here and feel it, it really is one of the great college basketball environments,” Hill said. “I’m partial to my alma mater (Duke), but it’s very similar to what goes on there, too.”

As for Hill’s and Few’s wakesurfing prowess, Hill informed the coach he’s coming to visit this summer to settle the debate.

“We had more banter, trash-talking about who is the better wakesurfer,” Hill said. “Obviously, he’s in season and I’m in Florida, so I’ll send videos of me wakesurfing and he’ll send me videos back of him wakesurfing in the summer.

“Neither one of us is that good, but we won’t back down with one another. I did tell him I’m coming back out here to wakesurf. We’ll get a chance to get in the boat and see who is the better wakesurfer this summer.”

Winner probably gets a ring.