There are a number of ways to describe the ingredients in the secret sauce that Mark Few has brewed at Gonzaga to create one of college basketball’s most remarkable success stories. But perhaps Few’s own description of “Family First” may best explain the string of 20 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament under his leadership.

And this season of year-long undefeated number 1 ranking may be the pinnacle of the two decades of the 58-year-old Few’s leadership with possibly an NCAA title in the offing.

The key ingredient for Few’s formulae isn’t the model of other major schools to find and recruit the best basketball players available.

Thus this column, based on an interview I had with Few early this week, isn’t about the basketball prowess he has created but about the man whose focus is first on the players, coaches, and fans as family and the culture he has created around that focus.

“We need to have the shared feeling of like a mom-and-pop store rather than a supermarket,” Few offered. “We need to keep the mom-and-pop feel and charm and the Spokane component and the Jesuit component are parts of that.”

But it’s also interesting to hear the comments of those close to Few, including 20-year assistant Tommy Lloyd, who has guided Gonzaga’s global recruiting that has created a leading-edge for Gonzaga and is a story in its own right, and two-year assistant Roger Powell, 37.

“Mark really presses the issue of spending family time and I’ve learned a lot about coaching in my two years,” said Powell, a 2005 graduate of the University of Illinois where he was a Big-Ten all-star. “Mark is demanding but he gives people the freedom to fulfill. He demands excellence but I’ve had the freedom to grow.”Mark Few

The focus on international as a key part of Gonzaga’s recruiting horizon has been an area where Gonzaga has been hugely successful over the years since Lloyd, a Whitman grad who played several seasons in Germany and Australia, began convincing international standouts to come to GU.

Gonzaga has been credited with establishing an overseas foothold that few, if any, competitors have been able to match

“I think it’s an area where a lot of people don’t know how to navigate,” said Lloyd, who keeps in touch with scouts and keeps his eye on various national team rosters.

“In some cases, the players from overseas have been the most endearing and in some ways, their capacity to learn is way better,” said Few. “I think it’s partly that they learn multiple languages.”

“They’ve had no problem integrating into the program or the family atmosphere,” Few added.

Lloyd helped steer international past standouts Ronny Turiaf, Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk, Kevin Pangos, Przemek Karnowski, Domantas Sabonis, Rui Hachimura, Juan Batista, Rob Sacre, and Kyle Wiltjer to Gonzaga. Five of the players on this year’s roster are from other countries.

Ironically, Gonzaga, 63 years ago when it was an unknown little school in a small town in Eastern Washington, suddenly found itself with national attention because of a 7-foot-3 Frenchman named Jean Claude Lefebvre who had enrolled at Gonzaga to play basketball.

Lefebvre made a brief splash but returned home midway through his sophomore season. But a
Sports Illustrated article summed up his importance to Gonzaga basketball history saying his time there "may well have given birth to a new dimension in basketball recruiting and brought an end to isolationist thinking among domestic proselyters.”

So in terms of that “birth of a new dimension in basketball recruiting,” Gonzaga in the Few era, having Lloyd with attention to the international prospects, has brought that new dimension.

So I have to explain how a writer whose claim to fame since retiring is writing Flynn’s Harp managed to get an interview with the most sought-after coach in America, one who routinely turns down interviews because he doesn’t have high regard for personal visibility opportunities.

Thank a mutual friend named John Rudolf, who has a home on Hayden Lake in Northern Idaho where Few also has a home, allowing coaches and families to hang out together through the summer. In addition Rudolf and Few regularly play pickleball with coaches and friends with such competitive intensity that Few refers to those matches as “Bangerball,” Rudolf told me with a laugh.

“So what did you say to Mark to get him to let me have an interview?” I asked Rudolf, “I said you had the best credentials of anyone as a grad of St. Aloysius (the grade school where his sister-in-law is principal and his four kids have attended), Gonzaga Prep, and GU.”

Rudolf, a longtime successful investment advisor who now entertains himself (and those who accompany him) with long hikes and bike rides, racquet sports, and what he jokingly refers to as “occasional special challenges like climbing Kilimanjaro and Denali,” donated The Rudolf Fitness Center to the students. Named for his father, Kermit, the center provides cardio and weight equipment as well as an indoor track and basketball and volleyball courts and a pool.

I asked Rudolf for his thoughts about Few, who was an assistant coach for a decade before succeeding Don Monson, who was hired away by Minnesota after the 1999 season which ended with the Zags making a spectacular run from virtually nowhere to the Final Eight in the NCAA tournament. Thereafter, the NCAA tournament became a routine under Few.

“Few has a special talent of being able every year to build a new team-oriented to a ‘we first’ bond and attitude from a new group of disparate, strong individuals, each with his own personal career hopes and goals,” Rudolf said. “Under Mark’s leadership, these exceptional student-athletes develop from a focus on individual success to a primary focus on team first.“

So are there some targeted prospects who don't get to Gonzaga, I asked Few. And he said, "a prospect who expects a lot of recruiting attention or numerous visits isn't our kind of kid."

I asked Few about what I was told are frequent phone conversations with other coaches and he said: “I enjoy hearing other coaches' experiences because I’m continually trying to grow as a coach, as well as a parent and a leader.” As a parent, Few and his wife, Marcy, have three sons and a daughter.

Another friend of mine who knows Few told me that he thinks the remarkable thing about Few as a coach “is a unique ability to get every player into a zone, not just one or two players.”

I asked Few about that and he described a “zone.” “There is a perfect point where confidence is at an all-time high. It’s not arrogance it’s that your anxiety is at just the right level, pushing peak performance but not being nervous or questioning yourself.”

I can think of others besides basketball players who could benefit from learning how to enter that zone.

If, Gonzaga exits the West Coast Conference, as is being increasingly rumored on both sides of the country, much of the conversation would focus on the role athletic success has come to play in not only the image but also the broader financial success of smaller private universities.

What's become known in recent weeks as the Catholic 7 group of top-tier basketball powers is splitting from the football-playing members of the 34-year-old Big East Conference at the end of June to form its own conference, which will retain the Big East name. Gonzaga has reportedly reached out to officials of the new Big East to indicate an interest in becoming a member.

That may come as a shock to many Gonzaga basketball fans, but not to those who know that Bulldogs coach Mark Few has wanted out of the WCC for a number of years. And as the financial picture offered by membership in the Big East sinks in, there's likely to be growing pressure to work out the geographic challenges and make the move to a conference where media revenue can provide riches.

The Catholic 7 schools -- DePaul, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova and Marquette -- will become a 10-team league by adding Butler (as the only non-Catholic university but a private school with high academic standing), Xavier and Creighton before the start of next season.

In 2014-15, the new Big East is expected to add two more teams, with Dayton and St. Louis the leading candidates to join and thus create a 12-member alignment.

Gonzaga, which reportedly spent $5.3 million on all aspects of the basketball program and had revenue of $6.1 million (that was two years ago, the most recent year for which figures are available), would rank in the middle of the Big East pack in both categories.

Marquette, with $10.3 million in basketball expenses and $15.6 million in revenue, and Georgetown, at $8.6 million and $9.5 million, top the Big East teams, though Villanova had $8.0 million in revenue and Xavier, a Jesuit university in Cincinnati, had revenues of $11.2 million.

The figures come from the U.S. Department of Education, which requires NCAA schools to report what's called "equality in athletics" information, and were reported last October in the Memphis Business Journal, which did an exhaustive review of the numbers and reported the rankings.

You can search "NCAA college basketball expenses" and find a CNN breakdown of all basketball revenue and expenses for the 2008-09 season, though CNN notes that comparison between basketball revenues and profits "is interesting, but not precise." That's because schools have latitude in their filings and may assign revenue and expenses to different sports, meaning schools that play football may skew the basketball information, but that's far less likely among these non-football schools.

Gonzaga's expenditure and revenue totals are well beyond schools in the WCC, but stack up comparatively well with major western schools, including many of the Pac-12 schools. Figures reported by Washington State, Oregon and Oregon State and University of California showed expense and revenue similar to Gonzaga's attributed to men's basketball.

Those close to the Gonzaga basketball program are well aware that several years ago, Few, wanted to become an independent. But because the conference had let it be known that other sports wouldn't be welcome to stay in the WCC if Gonzaga exited for basketball, the idea was set aside

 There's no official comment from either Gonzaga or the Big East members on a possible role for Gonzaga in the basketball-driven new alliance of Catholic schools. But sports bloggers have begun to toss out the possibility.

Except for the challenge of distance, Gonzaga would be viewed as a logical member of the group. And a longtime friend of mine at Marquette observed "Gonzaga would add so much to this conference."

Distance remains the challenge to overcome in any discussions going on about Gonzaga and the Big East, given the fact that the closest school would be Omaha, once Creighton joins the conference.

But the fact a number of trustees got together several years ago to put up $150,000 each to allow Few to charter flights for the team's trips rather than the tedious and draining commercial travel would ease some of the challenge of distance.

"In typical fashion, Few said 'I'm not worried about me, but I am concerned for my guys and the drain of travel,'" recalled McCann, who declined to directly address the Big East rumors.

But with that arrangement to help players with travel challenges by putting up the money for charter flights, the trustees may have, without specifically intending it, set the stage for Gonzaga to accept any offer to join the Big East.

All that would change, in both image and income, for Gonzaga with membership in the Big East.