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Holding on tight Gonzaga will take steps to try to keep Few around
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Two years ago, Gonzaga lost coach Dan Monson after a surprising run in the NCAA basketball tournament. Now school officials will try to keep Coach Mark Few from leaving. In the wake of Gonzaga's advance to a third straight Sweet 16 game, Athletic Director Mike Roth said Few's contract will be sweetened in an effort to keep him at the small Jesuit school. Few, in Atlanta preparing for Friday's game, said he is not looking for a new job among the two dozen openings in NCAA Division 1. "I'm extremely content with what I have at GU and the type of kids I get to work with and the quality of life I have in Spokane," Few told The Spokesman-Review. "Those are things that genuinely mean a lot," Few said. "But, never say never." Monson spent a decade as a Gonzaga assistant before replacing Dan Fitzgerald prior to the 1998 season. He led Gonzaga to records of 24-10 and then 28-7, ending in a loss to eventual national champion Connecticut in the Elite Eight. Monson signed a 10-year contract worth an estimated $1.5 million after that season. But that contract paled beside the University of Minnesota's offer of a seven-year base salary of $150,000 per year, plus a supplemental package amounting to $340,000 per year. Monson jumped to the scandal-plagued Golden Gophers. Few, 38, was named Monson's replacement, at a salary of less than $100,000 a year. The diminutive Few, son of a priest, is a fly-fishing enthusiast who did not play college basketball. He has been at Gonzaga since 1990 and this is his first head coaching job at any level. With a veteran team returning, Few led Gonzaga to a 26-9 record last season and a trip to the Sweet 16. He was rewarded with an 8-year contract extension. This year, with most of Gonzaga's key players lost to graduation, the Bulldogs were not expected to make the NCAA tournament. But Few found quality junior college transfers, and recruited widely sought guard Blake Stepp out of Oregon, to complement returning players and Gonzaga tore through the West Coast Conference with only one loss. The Bulldogs stand at 26-6 heading into Friday's game against Michigan State. Few's two-season record is 52-15, slightly better than Monson's 52-17. After graduating from Oregon in 1987, Few was an assistant coach at Creswell, Ore., High School and Sheldon High in Eugene, Ore., before coming to Gonzaga. If a major program recruits Few, it will be difficult for Gonzaga to match the offer. Gonzaga is a private Jesuit-run school with just 4,800 students, located in the nation's 76th-largest television market. The Bulldogs play in an on-campus gym that seats only about 4,000 people, with comparatively low ticket prices. The school is talking about building a 6,000-seat arena, but must still raise the funds. Gonzaga's total athletic budget for 14 sports is just $3.5 million a year, less than major schools spend on football alone.
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