Gonzaga’s Mark Few named one of college basketball’s best coaches by Field of 68

Few was ranked third in The Field of 68’s list of top 10 current head coaches for the 2024-25 college basketball season

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Only three active head coaches will enter the 2024-25 college basketball season with more NCAA Tournament wins in their career than Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few.

The names ahead of him on the list are noteworthy — Arkansas coach John Calipari (57), Kansas coach Bill Self (57), and St. John’s coach Rick Pitino (54), three future hall-of-famers. UConn’s Dan Hurley is quickly climbing that leaderboard as he comes off back-to-back national championships with the Huskies. Outside of those names, there are not many coaches in the sport who boast a resume as lengthy as Few’s.

As such, the Field of 68’s list of top 10 head coaches heading into the new college basketball season featured Few at No. 3, only behind Hurley and Self. Baylor’s Scott Drew, who won a national championship over the Zags in 2021, checked in at No. 4 followed by Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, the reigning AP and Big 12 Coach of the Year. 

Nate Oats of Alabama, coming off his first Final Four appearance, was No. 6 on the list ahead of Purdue’s Matt Painter (No. 7) and Auburn’s Bruce Pearl (No. 8). Pitino and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, who also crossed the 700-win threshold this past season along with Few, rounded out the rankings.

In a win over Pepperdine on Jan. 18, Few reached the 700-win milestone in his 840th game as coach, second-fastest all-time behind the legendary Adolph Rupp, who got there in 836 games. Few’s .834 career winning percentage is the highest all-time among coaches with at least 600 games in their career, while his 24 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament are the most consecutive appearances to start a coach’s career.

Heading into next season, Few is sixth among active head coaches in career wins, trailing only Calipari (855), Pitino (854), Self (810), Tennessee’s Rick Barnes (806) and Oregon’s Dana Altman (755). Overall, Few ranks 25th all-time in career wins and has won 25 or more games in 17 consecutive seasons.

Should the Bulldogs make it 18 years in a row of 25 or more wins, Few would move up to 22nd all-time on the coaching leaderboard and pass legendary coach Phog Allen in the process. Considering the talent on the 2024-25 roster, that goal seems achievable.

Few returned seven of his top eight scorers from last season’s 27-8 squad, including All-WCC selections Graham Ike, Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman, while adding a handful of talented players via the transfer portal. Michael Ajayi, a 6-foot-7 wing and All-WCC last season at Pepperdine, is a candidate to start on the perimeter. Khalif Battle, a 6-foot-5 grad transfer from Arkansas, can fill up the scoring column. Emmanuel Innocenti, a 6-foot-5 transfer from Tarelton State, is a defensive specialist with the versatility to play multiple positions.

Gonzaga ranks firmly in the top 10 of way-too-early power rankings, polls and projections from experts and computers alike for the 2024-25 season. 

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