UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma previously talked about Gonzaga Bulldogs coach Mark Few, right in front of him, for his admiration of him. In March 2023, both Auriemma and Few were guests on the ‘What Drives Winning’ YouTube channel for a joint interview in front of a live crowd.
To start off the program, coach Auriemma was immediately asked about his thoughts on Few, particularly on how he knows him and his perspective on the Bulldogs’ tactician. Auriemma then first talked about how they first started, and eventually got closer to the point that they’d attend social gatherings together. Despite all of this, what Auriemma admires Few the most is how he has stayed the same through all of the years.
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“I’ve just always admired how he does his thing and how he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and he, year in and year out, you know, has handled. To me, the most impressive thing about Mark is he was at Gonzaga when everybody said you don’t want to play Gonzaga because they’re the big upset team, and he was a certain way, exactly the way he is now. Now, Gonzaga is the number one team in the country,” Auriemma said. (1:28)
“So, they’ve gone from that upstart team that you don’t want to play to now being the favorite to win a National Championship, and from my perspective, he hasn’t changed one bit. Not one, and I really admire him for that,” he concluded.
Few has been at the helm of the Bulldogs coaching staff since 1999, wherein he previously served as an assistant coach from 1990 to 1998 for the same program. Most recently in the 2024-25 campaign, Gonzaga finished with an overall record of 26-9 (14-4). For Auriemma, he is coming off the Huskies’ 12th national title berth from the 2025 NCAA tournament when they defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks by 23 points, 82-59.
Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs were defeated by the UConn Huskies in the 2023 NCAA tournament
In the 2022-23 season, which was when the interview with ‘What Drives Winning’ was being held, coach Mark Few had spearheaded the Bulldogs to an overall record of 31-6 (14-2 WCC). But, they were beaten by coach Geno Auriemma’s counterpart in coach Dan Hurley, the Huskies’ men’s basketball squad in the Elite Eight of that year’s NCAA tournament with an 82-54 drubbing. Hurley and the Huskies ended up winning the national title in 2023.
The Huskies’ men’s basketball team then went back-to-back as they won the 2024 national title, with coach Few and the Bulldogs’ 2024 national tournament run was thwarted by the Purdue Boilermakers, whom the Huskies dealt with in the winner-take-all game, in the Sweet 16. Few now looks to bring the Bulldogs back into the mix in the upcoming 2025-26 collegiate hoops season.
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