Mark Few is 23rd Best Coach, According to CBS Sports
By Josh Horton
In case you did not know, this was CBS Sports spin-off of ESPN’s series, where they ranked the top 50 coaches in college basketball. In ESPN’s list, Mark Few came in at 17.
It should be mentioned that CBS Sports put together their list much differently than ESPN. CBS Sports conducted a snake style draft with six of their writers drafting, while ESPN’s is just a straight forward list.
With the second to last overall pick, Jeff Borzello snagged Few 23rd overall. Here is what Borzello had to say about the long-time Gonzaga head coach;
"Few still doesn’t get the respect he deserves as a head coach. Maybe it’s because he’s in the West Coast Conference, maybe it’s because he hasn’t been past the Sweet 16, maybe it’s because he lost to Wichita State as a top seedin 2013, maybe it’s because he’s pretty much made it clear he doesn’t want to leave Gonzaga any time soon (or maybe ever). I’m not sure why he doesn’t, but I’ll gladly take him with the next-to-last pick in the draft. The guy flat-out wins games. He’s won at least a share of 13 of the last 14 WCC titles and has been to 15 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Keep in mind, he’s been a Division-I head coach for 15 seasons. So that’s 15-for-15. Few has been to four Sweet 16s and has lost double-digit games in a season just twice. He’s averaged 26.9 wins in his 15 seasons at Gonzaga and has never won fewer than 24 games. And Few has proven he can recruit high-level talent, talented overseas prospects, or develop under-recruited players. If Few wasn’t so comfortable in Spokane, he would be mentioned with nearly every available big-time job in the country every offseason — but he’s not, so he gets somewhat forgotten in these sorts of discussions. But maybe that’s the key to this whole thing: he’s built Gonzaga up to the point where most high-major jobs aren’t more attractive than the one he has now. – Borzello"
There were some very odd selections that went about before Few was taken off the board. You can see for yourself, but a current NBA head coach and women’s basketball coach were both selected before Few.
In my biased opinion, I would have had Few a bit higher on this list. Obviously I would have selected him before the two non-men’s college basketball coaches, as well as Buzz Williams (21st overall) and possibly Jay Wright and Shaka Smart.
However, Gonzaga fans should not be disrespected by Few’s 23rd ranking, as he is in very good company.