Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga coach Mark Few reportedly voted into Naismith Hall of Fame: ‘One of the best our game has ever seen’

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few smiles as he and his players celebrate winning the WCC Tournament Championship after they defeated Santa Clara on March 10 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs won the game 79-68. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Mark Few wasn’t short on endorsements by the time Gonzaga’s 27th-year coach was eligible for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“He’s a Hall of Famer. First ballot. Right now,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told The Spokesman-Review during Team USA Olympic training camp in 2024.

“He’s one of the best coaches our game has ever seen,” Houston’s Kelvin Sampson said in 2025 prior to an NCAA Tournament game between the Cougars and Zags. “Mark is a Hall of Famer.”

An early advocate, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas claimed Few was “on his way to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame” after Gonzaga’s first national championship appearance in 2017.

While Few already had the endorsements, now the longtime Gonzaga coach has the votes.

The 63-year-old coach who’s transformed Gonzaga from a tiny midmajor into a college hoops power was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame on Tuesday, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Few was initially nominated for the Hall of Fame in 2024 – the first year he became eligible – and selected as a finalist each of the past two years before being inducted as part of the 2026 class. Active coaches must have completed 25 years of full-time service to be inducted and be at least 60 years of age.

The Hall of Fame won’t formally announce its newest class until Saturday, when the group is introduced on an ESPN2 broadcast at 9 a.m. coinciding with Final Four weekend in Indianapolis. Enshrinement weekend is scheduled for Aug. 14-15, but a location and other details have yet to be finalized.

Few joins a group of inductees that includes one other coach and former NBA champion and current Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers, along with three players, according to a separate report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. Former Phoenix Suns standout Amar’e Stoudemire is set to be inducted, along with WNBA greats Candace Parker and Elena Delle Done.

Few was one of two active college coaches tabbed as a finalist, joining Houston’s Kelvin Sampson. The longtime Cougars coach didn’t receive enough votes for induction this year, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Many speculated it was a matter of when, rather than if, Few would be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“It’s one of those things, even though you know it’s coming and even though you know it’s deserved, it’s a special time that he’s able to not just get it, but get it young enough that he can enjoy it and be able to be proud of that accomplishment in his career,” said Dan Monson, Few’s predecessor at Gonzaga and the current coach at Eastern Washington.

Monson didn’t learn of Few’s induction until around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, roughly eight hours after the initial CBS report surfaced on social media. The close friends and fellow coaches are on the same flight to Indianapolis on Wednesday and were going over Final Four logistics, but the Hall of Fame news never came up in conversation.

“I just found out, like, two minutes ago,” Monson said. “He’s so humble, he didn’t say anything. I talked to him earlier and he didn’t say a word about it. It’s obviously a great honor, and obviously it’s well-deserved.”

The Zags had qualified for two NCAA Tournaments, in 1995 and 1999, before Few assumed the head coaching position when Monson left for Minnesota. Gonzaga has gone 28 straight years without missing an NCAA Tournament bid, with Few’s teams making 13 runs to the Sweet 16, five appearances in the Elite Eight and two trips to the national championship game, in 2017 and ‘21.

The Zags have won a first-round NCAA Tournament game in 17 straight seasons dating back to their 2008 loss to Stephen Curry and Davidson. They advanced to at least the Sweet 16 every year from 2015-24.

Few became the second-fastest coach in NCAA Division I history to 700 wins – behind only Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp – and his career record stands at 773-156. Few’s current winning percentage (.832) ranks No. 1 in Division I history, and he’ll have an opportunity to reach 800 wins next season as the Zags make their transition to the Pac-12.

Over the past 27 years, Few’s teams won 44 regular-season and tournament championships during their time in the West Coast Conference, closing that chapter with multiple titles during the 2025-26 season.

Few’s produced 19 NBA draft picks and has 13 active players on NBA rosters this season. His teams have also featured 11 consensus All-Americans, spanning from Dan Dickau in 2002 to Drew Timme in 2023.

Few led the 2025-26 Zags to the program’s ninth 30-win season and 28th NCAA Tournament berth. Gonzaga finished the season with a 31-4 record, winning a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season championship, as well as the WCC Tournament.

The Zags won a game at the NCAA Tournament for the 17th straight year, but fell short of a Sweet 16 appearance, losing 74-68 to Texas in a Round of 32 appearance at the Moda Center in Portland.

A native of Creswell, Oregon, Few was also part of an Olympic gold medal run, working as an assistant on Steve Kerr’s Team USA staff during the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.