![]() “We just made the best of it and maximized the money in the recruiting budgets we were operating with and that’s who we were. “We have to pull over, get the bumper, put it in the hatchback,’’ said Rice, now the head coach at Boise State, “and it’s sticking out of the car.’’įew didn’t bother wasting time or money trying to get another car, according to Rice. They were on the freeway in Los Angeles when the car bumper fell off. Because of budget restrictions, Rice said, they arranged to use a Gonzaga booster’s dealership car to recruit in Los Angeles and later drive to Las Vegas. Leon Rice, who served as an assistant under Few from 1998-2010, recalled a recruiting trip that captured the days of a mid-major program trying to become a major player. I just kind of let him go because he got things done.’’ Rolling with the punches I think one of the things I did a good job of is not trying to micromanage him, because that’s not how he was at his best. He knew what he had to do to be successful and what the program needed. “He’s one of those guys that didn’t want to be told what to do. I’ve already called these two kids and we’ve got this kid coming in the next week,' and, as an assistant, he just marched to the beat of his own drum. “And Mark would go, ‘No, I’ve already done this, this and this. “We’d call a staff meeting and I’d be like, ‘OK, we gotta do this, this and this.’ ” Monson recalled. “He would always say, ‘We don’t work for Dan, we work with Dan.’ ” “I said all the time, ‘I’m the only one that was the head coach and also worked for Mark Few,’ because that’s how he was,’’ Monson said. “Very well behaved.’’ Hardheaded on his way upĭan Monson worked as an assistant coach with Few at Gonzaga for nearly a decade before Monson was elevated to head coach - at least in title. “Stella’s very comfortable being at practice,’’ he said. Roth said Stella’s occasional presence at practice illustrates Few’s commitment to family, which also includes wife Marcy and their four children. “I view that as the balance we’re looking for with our coaches.’’ “I think when Mark knows he’s going to be gone for a period of time, he likes to spend a little extra time with Stella,’’ Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth said. On Wednesday, during Gonzaga’s final practice on its campus in Spokane, Few brought a guest - Stella, his 4-year-old German Shepherd. He’s just a nonstop, get-at-it-guy." Four-legged guest at practice “He will just keep pounding and pounding and pounding the water. “He’s the most competitive guy I’ve ever fished with,’’ added Heister, who hosts a fly fishing show for NBC. “Fewy’s not really worried about what that meant for his long-term health of his tooth.’’ “It’s one of those things where your mother would scream at you when you’re 14 years old about doing and here he is in his 50s and he’s still doing it,’’ Heister said. So rather than agreeing to use the nips, he convinced the dentist to shave down his tooth and has continued to cut fishing line in his preferred manner - a story verified by another one of Few’s fishing buddies, Joe Roope. “He’s not the most patient character,’’ Heister said. Which was faster but more damaging to his tooth than using metal clippers known as nips. The problem, Few clarified, was the groove was hampering his ability to cut the fishing line with his teeth. ![]()
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