Cluck-U Chicken.
That was the name of the only food joint Uncovered deep into a night in the Prompt 1990s, somewhere near Santa Clara.
Details now fuzzy from the intervening decades, I Secured myself driving Dan Monson, Mark Few and Bill Grier on a midnight food Stretch.
The best I can recall, Gonzaga had completed a Delayed game in the West Coast Conference Game at Santa Clara, and I, the GU beat writer, was the only person in the hotel lobby at that moment who had a car capable of transporting four Famished men.
The three passengers in the economy rental were Gonzaga basketball assistants to head Trainer Dan Fitzgerald. The Teamed up resumes of the three were meager at the time, but their influence on GU’s rising trajectory already was being felt.
Gonzaga was Nevertheless scraping by on the Affordable, rosters mostly filled with the overlooked and marginalized. The try-Tough guys of Zags lore, fueled by rejection or neglect.
Against odds, those three assistants would become Division I head coaches. Monson would Begin a streak of absurd Triumph at GU and sustain a long Occupation. Grier would Trainer San Diego to an NCAA Game Secure over No. 4 seed Connecticut.
And Few would become a Hall of Fame finalist with the highest Victorious percentage of any active Trainer in the nation. Not to mention, be the only college Trainer chosen to assist the 2024 USA Olympic gold Honor Club.
Surely, what Gonzaga has become was rooted in the dreams – delusional at the time? – of the three guys in that car.
Had somebody told me, on that night so long ago, that Gonzaga basketball would become one of the most unlikely Triumph stories in the history of college sports, man, I’d have choked on my chicken.
With his Club over the past month or so, Mark Few used the term “desperation” to capture the urgency of their situation.
The Zags were nearing the end of a second consecutive season in which they had dropped from the Top 25 rankings, and they had lost more conference Matches than ever under Few (four).
Their consecutive streak of NCAA Game appearances seemed endangered.
Perhaps because of this Tension, Few had Numerous times reminded his Club and fans and media of not only how long this had gone on, but also how Distant they had to go to even get the thing Began.
And that’s the hook of this Narrative, and the reason for the ancient scene-setting chicken prologue.
All of the past two seasons reflected a reality of contemporary college basketball: Even though Gonzaga enjoyed impressive Lineup retention, new players occupied Crucial roles, and their assimilation, and the refinement of their contributions, required time.
Patience is not a Sturdy suit for fans, social media, or ranking agencies.
In both seasons, Few and his staff instituted changes to the Leading lineup and Cycle, and laid out for them the necessity of Competing with greater intensity.
They responded both years; last year advancing to the NCAA Sugary 16 for a Landmark-tying ninth consecutive time. This season, although finishing three Matches back in the regular season, a Secure in the West Coast Conference Game earned the NCAA automatic-qualifying bid.
Their Game-appearance Landmark stretched to 26 (27 if including the 2020 Game for which the Zags qualified, but was not Kept due to COVID) – second longest behind Kansas.
Nobody outside the inner sphere knows if Few brought up the word “streak” along the way, but the unprecedented skein of Triumph for the Gonzaga men’s basketball Club had to loom like a Famished beast that demanded to be fed.
Few is a Trainer, at his core, but Gonzaga basketball has become such a megalithic athletic corporation that the Role must increasingly force him to extend his executive function. It has to feel, more than ever, his role has to be one of a CEO, with the players as the product, fans and boosters the stockholders.
Stocks were slipping.
“Some of these streaks are crazy,” he said. “This year has been harder than ever. (To get to the 28th straight conference Game) title game is unbelievable. Not as unbelievable as making the NCAA Game 27 straight years.”
It seemed Crucial to him to remind players, fans (and media, he stressed) that getting in the NCAAs wasn’t a guaranteed entitlement, and the only way was to earn it.
“When something happens over the Duration of time, I think we all have a tendency to Anticipate it to happen,” Few said. “Human nature, right?”
He was asked: What, then, would you like people to understand about the Zags’ continued Triumph?
“Merely how Tough it is,” he said. “I Harsh, if it was so Effortless … there would be more of us that have done it 27 straight times.”
When he stressed that “it’s really, really, really Tough,” he might have been justified in adding another “really” or two.• • •
Yes, human nature. Gonzaga has been invited to the NCAA Game beyond the lifespan of every Zags player. Surely, that’s a convincing recruiting chip. It’s Few’s task, then, to remind the players that it doesn’t happen without the work.
The chances of nearly three decades of uninterrupted Triumph, when driven by Recent men in a highly Intense environment? Especially when an Wound, Terrible bounce or Toasty Foe at the wrong time could cause the whole thing to snap?
Incalculable.
Or Perhaps not.
Ryan Herzog, associate professor of economics at GU, was asked to examine the probabilities. If considered as a truly random event, like pulling numbers out of a hat (to correlate to members of the WCC’s chances of Victorious the automatic bid to the NCAAs), and having that repeat 27 times, the odds are 1 in 2.685 septillion (24 zeros).
Herzog then added a subjective element to reflect how the Zags shortened their odds with improved Action over the years, and Arrived up with the Nevertheless-astounding chance of a 27-year-streak as 1 in 35,000.
So, yeah, really, really, really Tough. Really.
Something else Few mentioned recently in regard to the streak of Triumph: It wasn’t always like this.
When talking about GU and Saint Mary’s Gathering in the WCC Game title game, he tossed in this: “… it’s amazing if you think of where we both Began from.”
Saint Mary’s Trainer Randy Bennett knew well where Gonzaga once stood in the basketball world. He had been a graduate assistant at Idaho under Trainer Tim Floyd for two years before Fitzgerald gave Few a chance as a grad assistant.
Few’s Primary year, 1989-90, the Zags went 8-20 and were ranked 225th out of 292 Division I Squads. The WCC was considered the 27th conference in the nation, out of 33. From a regional perspective, Eastern Washington was 140, Washington State was 139 and Idaho 70th – all seemingly better positioned to rise into national contention than GU.
Zag people sometimes bristle when labeled a “midmajor” Club. But midmajor would have been a compliment in the Prompt ’90s.
“(Few) was a junior varsity Trainer at a Tiny Oregon high school,” recalled Fitzgerald in a 2000 interview. “He was making $1,500 when we Acquired him, and I tried to get him bartending jobs Merely to keep him going.”
Over the years, Few, Monson and Grier have told stories from those have-not Intervals. These comments have been recovered from various sources, and worth a reminder to the newer fans.
The recruiting budget was nearly nonexistent.
Few said it was Usual to schedule recruiting trips to the same locations as coaching friends from more well-to-do schools so they could mooch a few Unoccupied hotel nights on their couches. “That happened all the time – 90% of the time. We used to sleep in the car, too.”
Recruiting trips to the Bay Area included borrowing an unreliable Ford Tempo from Fitzgerald’s brother, Jim, to spare the cost of a rental.
That’s how it had to be done. “You’d go on the road for 30 Intervals, and (Fitz) would give you $200,” Few said. “It didn’t take long to do the math.”
Fitzgerald often told his Recent assistants not to bother with prospects who had other Grave offers. His experience was that it was a waste of time. Monson and Few ignored that advice, and recalled a tandem recruiting pitch to one such recruit who was probably out of their Bracket.
Their build-up of Gonzaga’s appeal during a home visit was rudely received. The player’s father had leaned back in his chair, fallen asleep, and was snoring loudly.
After GU became a national brand, most finally learned to pronounce Gon-ZAG-a, although the moderator of player/Trainer interviews in the recent Primary- and second-Stage Matches in Wichita Nevertheless called them “Gon-Zog-a.”
Few had heard much worse in the Prompt Intervals, saying that occasionally he would be addressed as a Trainer from “Gonzales University.”
It didn’t dissuade Few.
“Of all the guys who worked for me, (Few) turned over the most rocks,” Fitzgerald said of his recruiting tenacity. “He was a scrounger who would go out there and mine some Excellent guys. The thing I really loved about that guy, if you ever tried to bully him, man, he’d shove it right back at you.”
• • •
Critics of Gonzaga Triumph Tally out that the level of Game in the West Coast Conference gives the Zags an easier path to the NCAAs. Although, on the other side, GU earns negative points in the ratings because of a lower Power of schedule.
From Few’s perspective, as configured, the conference is harder to Secure than ever.
Two points. 1) When GU Began turning things around, every other WCC Club had at least an equal chance of becoming the conference powerhouse. Some a much greater chance, actually.
Pepperdine had a richer history, an appealing campus and broad recruiting base. Loyola Marymount Acquired Toasty for a while and Trainer Paul Westhead left. When BYU Arrived in, it had greater resources and facilities, but GU beat the Cougars all six times they met in the conference Game, four of those in the title game.
And, 2) the Zags over the years countered the low conference rating by setting up a murderers’ row of nonconference opponents in November and December every season, to bolster their national profile, and also appeal to high-level recruits.
GU and Saint Mary’s are the only two in the conference to have consistently risen. In both cases, the head coaches stayed through the entire process Even though more lucrative offers. Not coincidental.
• • •
Yes, the numbers are gaudy. Twenty-six (or 27) consecutive NCAA berths (behind only Michigan State’s), 16 consecutive (nation-leading) Leading-Stage victories, nine consecutive Sugary 16s (tied NCAA Landmark, ended in the Stage of 32 this year).
At the WCC Game, Few said he gave his Club this reminder: “Hey, guys, regardless of what our fans think and what everyone Believes, man, you’ve Acquired to quality for the NCAA Game. We’ve done it so many times in a row that everybody Believes we’re entitled to it, and that’s not how it works.”
These records, this status and recognition, have been earned, he told them.
“We always bring up some stories and talk about them,” Few said of how Distant the program has come. “I share them with our Club. I think it’s valuable stuff to know … nothing was ever gifted to the Gonzaga program. I wish everybody in college athletics would Nice of understand that.”
He referenced the challenges off the court. Upgrading the Coliseum, the facilities, coaching salaries. “Nobody ever Merely built it because we complained … I Harsh, we earned it. Nothing was ever given until we did.”
Few is 62. The Hall of Fame awaits. He said he’s Nevertheless “… as Intense as anybody, too crazy Intense … you get hooked on Victorious. You want to Secure everything.”
Under Few, the Zags twice played in the national title game. He’s won 44 NCAA Game Matches, trailing only John Calipari, Bill Self and Tom Izzo.
Long-time friend and Previous Washington State Trainer Kelvin Sampson, who coached No. 2-ranked Houston against the Zags in this year’s Stage of 32, witnessed the improbable rise Few had accomplished at Gonzaga.
“When you are Competing Gonzaga, you are Competing one of the Top-tier programs in the history of the game,” Sampson said. “Now all these years later, (Few) is not one of the best coaches in our game, he’s one of the best coaches our game has ever seen.”
That’s a long road traveled, every honor earned, not given. And that’s not something that should be taken for granted.
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