Mark Few reveals Gonzaga ‘sliding doors’ moment one day before Tommy Lloyd leads Arizona into Final Four

If Tommy Lloyd wasn’t leading a top-seeded Arizona team into the Final Four this weekend, it’s possible his head coaching tenure at Gonzaga would already be well underway.

Current Gonzaga coach Mark Few outlined the “sliding doors” scenario Friday during an interview with the Field of 68, not far from where Lloyd and Arizona will play fellow No. 1 seed Michigan on Saturday in the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

It’s widely known Lloyd had a stipulation in his contract designating him as Few’s successor, but the assistant’s head coaching tenure at Gonzaga may have started even sooner had Arizona opted to go elsewhere with its coaching hire in 2021.

Few, who’s planning to return for his 28th season at Gonzaga in 2026-27, said he would’ve considered stepping down at an earlier stage knowing the program would be in capable hands with Lloyd. Few indicated he would’ve taken a different role with the university to continue to support Lloyd and the basketball program.

“I don’t know that I’ve said this publicly, but I probably would’ve moved on to a subsidiary role at Gonzaga knowing it was in such great hands if (Lloyd) would’ve stayed,” Few said, noting current assistant Brian Michaelson has since been tabbed as GU’s coach in waiting. “Now we’ve got B-Mike and the same thing’s happened with B-Mike and I think he’s ready for this gig.”

Few spoke for approximately 14 minutes during the interview, covering a mix of topics that included Gonzaga’s 2025-26 campaign, his Naismith Hall of Fame induction and the success Lloyd’s had over five seasons at Arizona.

The 63-year-old also addressed questions about his immediate future, confirming he’ll be back in 2026-27 as Gonzaga makes a highly anticipated transition to the Pac-12 Conference and attempts to stretch its NCAA Tournament streak to 29 seasons.

“I’m down here grinding, my staff had me meeting with agents here and all that,” Few said. “I sat through 12 hours of coaches meetings. I’m trying.”

Field of 68 host Jeff Goodman sought more confirmation from Few: “So you’re back?”

“I never left,” Few responded.

After nine straight trips to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, Gonzaga fell short of the Sweet 16 for the second straight season, beating Kennesaw State 74-63 in its opening game at the Moda Center in Portland before dropping a Round of 32 matchup to 11th-seeded Texas, which got a dagger 3-pointer from Cam Heide to secure a 74-68 win.

Randolph Childress, a former Wake Forest standout and Field of 68 contributor, ribbed Few for ruining his NCAA bracket, acknowledging Gonzaga’s track record of making the Sweet 16 convinced him to pencil the Zags in for a trip to the second weekend.

“I’m going to give you one word: Braden Huff,” Few said. “Then I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. … You can’t say this but you can say this. I felt this when it happened. It took us from being a team that could’ve played this weekend and maybe should’ve played this weekend to one that had to fight, scratch, claw to get into the tournament and win a game in the tournament.”

Huff, one of the most efficient 2-point scorers in the country, never returned to the court for Gonzaga after dislocating his left kneecap in January, missing the team’s final 17 games. The Zags also dealt with injuries to All-American forward Graham Ike and Swiss Army knife wing Jalen Warley, but still managed to win 31 games and capture West Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships.

“We were like the 6-foot-5 and under team, which we’ve never been at Gonzaga,” Few said. “And man, we switched everything, we played incredible defense, we flew around, we started running dribble drive, which I knew nothing about. To win 31 games and all that, I love this team. I’ll always love them and respect the hell out of them.”

Since Lloyd left Few’s staff five years ago, the Gonzaga coach has marveled at what his former colleague has accomplished at Arizona. Lloyd won 112 games from 2021-25 – the second-most by any Division I coach in his first four seasons – and guided the Wildcats to regular season and conference tournament titles in a competitive Big 12 this year.

“He’s the real deal across every spectrum as a coach,” Few said. “… I knew he was going to do great. They have football, we don’t have football. Gonzaga’s 8,000 students, this is 45,000. State school, private school. Big difference. Just stuff like that. Was never ever worried about the basketball part, the recruiting part or any of that.”