Gonzaga's Mark Few calls out 'idiotic' WCC travel schedule

Bulldogs head coach didn't hold back regarding the WCC's cadence with Thursday-Saturday games
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
In this story:

There are a handful of West Coast schools in the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 that are experiencing a myriad of challenges while having to travel cross country for conference play — just ask UCLA's Mick Cronin.

Cronin's rant about the Big Ten's travel schedule went viral earlier this month when he was asked about the impact on East Coast Big Ten teams when they travel to the West Coast.

"We have to [travel] back four times," Cronin said. "Oh, the Big Ten teams get to come to Los Angeles where it's 70 degrees one time a year. They don't even have to switch hotels. [UCLA and USC] are 12 miles apart, are you kidding me? Please tell me you're kidding me.

"We've seen the Statue of Liberty twice in the last three weeks while we were landing. We also saw the Capitol Building. And we’ve still got to go back, and then we’ve got to go back for the Big Ten tournament."

The Gonzaga men's basketball team hasn't racked up as many frequent flyer miles as the Bruins have over the past month, though the West Coast Conference's scheduling cadence has presented the Bulldogs with similar rigors that NBA teams sometimes experience. And according to Mark Few — as well as many other coaches around the league — it's time to move on from playing two games in a 72-hour span.

"The coaches in the league asked to play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and not do the Thursday- Saturdays. But sometimes it falls on deaf ears," Few said following the Bulldogs' win over Oregon State on Tuesday. "I mean to have a Thursday-Saturday where you're traveling after an 8 o'clock game is idiotic, basically."

For years the WCC has scheduled two games per week, with one contest on Thursday and one on Saturday, aside from a few exceptions. To help prevent excessive travel, the league put together "travel partners." For example, Gonzaga would head down to Los Angeles to play Loyola Marymount on a Thursday before making a short bus ride down to Pepperdine's campus in Malibu, California, for a game against the Waves that Saturday.

However, the travel partners idea has gone away in recent years as the WCC has reshuffled its deck with BYU leaving and Washington State and Oregon State coming in, making the two-games-in-three-days cadence even more of a challenge in regard to preparation and rest.

"We don't even have travel partners anymore so I have no idea why we continue to do [Thursday-Saturday games]," Few said. "That's what happens when administrators are making the call and not the coaches who actually know what's going on."

To Few's point, the Bulldogs have logged a lot of unnecessary air miles while trying to keep up with their WCC schedule. Over the first three games of conference play, the Zags racked up roughly 2,890 miles while going from Pepperdine to Spokane, then back down to LA for a matchup against the Lions; all in the span of four days. Had Gonzaga stayed in California to play LMU after the Waves game instead, the Bulldogs would've saved nearly 2,000 miles in travel.

Gonzaga's consecutive trips to Oregon could've also been condensed down to one, had the Zags been scheduled to play the Pilots in Portland the Saturday after playing the Beavers down in Corvallis, Oregon. Instead, Few and company had to get on a flight to Spokane following their overtime loss to Oregon State for a matchup against Santa Clara at the Kennel.

Gonzaga (16-6, 7-2 WCC) has two more Thursday-Saturday games left on the schedule. The Bulldogs are home against LMU on Feb. 6, then at Pacific on Feb. 8. The following week, they battle San Francisco on Feb. 13 at the Kennel before hosting Pepperdine on Feb. 15.

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Continue to follow our Gonzaga coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Instagram and Twitter.


Published
Cole Forsman
COLE FORSMAN

Cole Forsman is a reporter for Gonzaga Bulldogs On SI. Cole holds a degree in Journalism and Sports Management from Gonzaga University.