Few a good fit for Indiana
The Indianapolis Star has a good run-down of their top ten candidates to replace former IU basketball coach Mike Davis. I’m just as nostalgic as anyone about Steve Alford, but I agree with the Star putting Mark Few at the top of their list. He seems to be an excellent coach and a good fit for Indiana. On a personal level, read what this article from the Gonzaga athletic department had to say about him:
[Few has been] able to maintain a balance he has found to be important in life. Perhaps his upbringing in the home of a Presbyterian minister had something to do with it.
“God is first, family is second and self is third,” Mark said. “That’s the way I was brought up and that’s the way Marcy and I feel about our family. The love that emanates from that carries over into everything we do.”
In a well-publicized episode, Gonzaga standout Adam “wants to be Jim” Morrison wrote “Religion is the opiate of the masses” on a lockerroom white board after Few suggested his players attend church on Sundays.
I always felt that the following quote from the movie Hoosiers encapsulates pretty well the mindset of the state of Indiana:
“We trust that you’re a fine, upstanding, God-fearing man with Christian morals and principals, who will set an example and a standard of leadership for our boys…tell me, do you believe in zone defense or man to man?”
I’m not sure which style of defense Few prefers, but either way he’ll be right at home in Indiana.
8 Responses to “Few a good fit for Indiana”
My problem with Few is that his teams do not appear to be defensively sound. I’ve only watched about 5 of their games, but each time I’m disappointed with the defensive play of the ‘Zags. I’m also concerned about Few’s ability to recruit in the Midwest.
Dan Monson was a successful coach at Gonzaga prior to Few, and Monson has failed to do much of anything now that he coaches Minnesota. I would be worried that Few’s switch to the Big Ten could result in the same thing.
But Josh, he’s a Christian. That appears to be all that matters to Eric.
It’s gonna be Randy Wittman. I think that was decided some time ago.
I like the double entendre in the post title, myself – assuming it was intentional.
Given the weird but pervasive synergy between populist Christianity and competitive athletics (FCA, “muscular Christianity,” YMCAs, thanking God for touchdowns), I have to say that for someone to stand up and write even the puerile sentiment that Morrison expressed is an indication of immense hubris or an amazingly independent mind–or both, of course. I respect him rather more now.
Ed, I certainly hope that remark was made tongue-in-cheek.
Obviously, my chief interest in the next Indiana coach is that he’s a talented coach. If all I cared about is whether he’s a Christian, I would have been a diehard defender of Mike Davis and not of Bob Knight. But I thought this information was interesting, and it also gave me a chance to comment on the status of God and basketball in Indiana.
Few’s go-to-church plea wouldn’t be out of place, given that it’s a Catholic college (and a conservative one at that) that he’s coaching; it’s Morrison who’s in need of the “trip to the woodshed” in that interaction.
However, the way things are going at Gonzaga, moving to IU might well be a lateral move for Few. I’d put my money on Crean; moving for Marquette would be a upsward move and his Big Ten roots as a Izzo assistant at MSU would be helpful.
However, the way things are going at Gonzaga, moving to IU might well be a lateral move for Few.
Wow, on what basis? For a good refuation to that notion read this piece in the Seattle PI. Besides the massively enlarged salary, “There are only so many college basketball Meccas. When one calls, an ambitious man listens.”
“There are only so many college basketball Meccas. When one calls, an ambitious man listens.”
This may be, but there is another aspect to consider about the basketball pantheon; whether to head to an existing Mecca or create a new one? And at what point is the money not an issue. Few’s reported salary is 600k, and he likely makes more than that from other endorsement, tv and radio deals. He would certainly receive and upgraded salaray, but then he also has to uproot his family. This doen’t even mention the whole host of headaches that can come along with going to a storied program (i.e. – Davis, Doherty, etc.). This isnt’ to say that Few won’t end up in the job, but there is (in my opinion) a very attractive idea to staying in a non-traditional powerhouse job and attempt to build it into a perennial powerhouse.