NCAA Basketball: Best head coaching hire from each of last 25 seasons

1999: Mark Few (Gonzaga)

Tom Crean landed at Marquette, Steve Fisher began his rebuild of San Diego State, and Kevin Stallings began his long tour of duty in Vanderbilt, but this is another year where one name flies above all the others. Dan Monson left Gonzaga after just two seasons as head coach, fresh off leading this Cinderella story to an Elite Eight run, but the Bulldogs certainly made the right hire.

Few graduated from Oregon, but he has spent his entire coaching career with these Bulldogs. He had originally been hired as a graduate assistant a decade earlier and been on the staffs of both Monson and Dan Fitzgerald. When he was promoted in 1999, Few had no head coaching experience and was simply the next in line to inherit a program on the rise, and boy did it rise in the coming years.

Gonzaga has made every single NCAA Tournament since Few became head coach. They win the WCC title just about every season and they’ve been regular contenders in recent years, making at least the Sweet Sixteen each of the last eight Tournaments. Trips to the national title game in 2017 and 2021 have gotten Few’s Bulldogs really close to breaking through, but there’s no doubt that Few’s promotion, not to mention his sticking at the school when other jobs came calling, are the reason why Gonzaga has gone from Cinderella to near-Blue Blood status.