Zags coach Few selected to Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

From wire and news services

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s official: Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few has been selected as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026. 

The announcement was made Saturday morning during an event held at Final Four weekend in Indianapolis.

Few joins Joey Crawford, Mike D’Antoni, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw, Candace Parker, Doc Rivers, Amar’e Stoudemire and the 1996 United States Women’s National Team in the Class of 2026. 

Enshrinement ceremonies are scheduled for Aug. 14-15 in Springfield, Mass.

“This is the greatest news ever,” Few said in a university news release. “It’s just such a thrill to be elected to the Hall of Fame, something I never would have imagined happening in my life. I’m so grateful and so proud of everything our players were able to accomplish here at Gonzaga. It’s a credit to having incredible people around you: incredible players, incredible staff members, an unbelievable wife and family, and God directing me through this crazy life. I can’t thank everybody enough at the Hall of Fame. I’m just thrilled to be part of this phenomenal class.”

“Where I come from, a little tiny town in Oregon, it wasn’t a dream come true. You couldn’t even possibly dream about something like this happening,” Few said at the news conference on Saturday.

“The biggest emotion and feeling I’ve had is this incredible overwhelming flush of just gratitude for everybody every step of the way. As a coach, it always starts and ends with the players, just all the great players. I’ve had great staff members.

“I’ve got one that’s going to be working in a couple hours here (Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, a former longtime Gonzaga assistant) that I’m really, really proud of.

“When you’re a coach, you have to have an incredible partner. My wife Marcy and our kids have had to sacrifice so much going on the road and doing all the stuff I do. I absolutely love them more than anything, and they were a huge part of it.”

Few took over as head coach in 1999, and enters the 2026-27 season with the highest active winning percentage in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. 

Gonzaga has advanced to 27 consecutive NCAA Tournaments while capturing 23 West Coast Conference regular-season titles and 21 conference tournament championships. 

Few’s teams have reached two national championship games, five Elite Eights and 13 Sweet 16s.

Few began his coaching career at Gonzaga in 1989 as a graduate assistant under Dan Fitzgerald. At the time, the program had yet to appear in the NCAA Tournament. He played a key role in building the foundation that led to Gonzaga’s breakthrough Elite Eight run in 1999 under Dan Monson.

When Monson took the Minnesota job a short time later, Few was promoted to head coach. He led the Bulldogs to a 26-9 record and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in his first season.

Gonzaga earned its first No. 1 national ranking in 2013 and reached the Elite Eight in 2015 with a 35-3 record. 

The program made runs to the NCAA Championship game in 2017 and again in 2021, when Gonzaga entered the title game undefeated at 31–0 after one of the most dominant seasons in college basketball history.

Few has coached 23 All-Americans and developed a steady pipeline of NBA talent. 

Internationally, Few has contributed to the success of USA Basketball, including serving as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. His career honors include multiple national coach of the year awards and recognition as one of the fastest coaches in NCAA history to reach 700 wins.

Few was asked about Lloyd, his former assistant, on Saturday.

“Well, (the) apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I don’t think,” Few said. “We had 20 awesome years together. Our families grew up together. He started on my staff as basically a volunteer and kind of a grad aide. He was just a relentless worker with a really positive spirit. He developed a great feel for the game.

“As he progressed, there wasn’t any doubt that he was going to be a great head coach. When he took the Arizona thing, I thought it was just a great move on their part to see that as an assistant, and I’m just so happy for him.”

When Arizona reached its first Final Four under Lloyd last Saturday, “the joy in our family was just incredible and feelings of pride,” Few said.

Parker won three titles in the WNBA with three different teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She is the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, plus two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.

Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free-throw line.

Holdsclaw won three straight titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that. The 1998 championship was Tennessee’s first undefeated season at 39–0 and the Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season. Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career.

Stoudemire, who was the only NBA player in this year’s class, was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003 and six-time All-Star. He spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he teamed with D’Antoni.

Rivers has 1,192 victories on his resume, which puts him sixth on the all-time wins list. He led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship in 2008 and also was in charge of the Los Angeles Clippers during their Lob City era.

Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals games over his 39-year career. He retired in 2016.