INDIANAPOLIS -- After his formal introduction as a new member of the Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, Gonzaga coach Mark Few could go back to being a fan.
Of Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats, of course.
After working with Lloyd for over two decades on the Gonzaga staff and building a close friendship, Few said he and his family were "all fired up" to come to Indianapolis to be a part of Lloyd's journey with the Wildcats.
"I'm just so happy for him," Few said. "When got over that game last weekend, the joy in our family was just incredible. It was feelings of pride."
The Wildcats' win over Purdue in the NCAA Tournament West Regional final put them in the Final Four for the first time in 25 years — and Lloyd in his first Final Four as a head coach.
"I probably underestimated the feeling, but once I saw the game that got him here, that was when it really hit," Few said. "You've got to remember it's a culmination of everything. And for his family, what (wife) Chanelle has been through, and Liam's with them, and his daughters are down there, Mimi and Sophie, and it's great to see that.
"I'm so happy for them, and obviously it energized my family."
In a small-group interview after his formal press conference, Few relayed the story about having sort of inherited Lloyd as a wanna-be graduate assistant. Lloyd had been promised some sort of role by former Gonzaga coach Dan Monson, who left to take over the head coaching job at Minnesota in July 1999.
"When I got the job we were just trying to digest everything, and we're going over, our roster and recruiting," Few said. "Then I called Dan, and we had small talk or whatever about both our teams, and I'm like `Dan, hey, who the hell is this guy that you left here that he's been hanging around here for two months? He's not on staff or anything.' "
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few and then-assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, both pictured on the sidelines for the Zags in November 2017, worked together at Gonzaga for over 20 years while building the Bulldogs into a perennial power.
Few wound up allowing Lloyd a somewhat official staff role and told him to develop a niche in international recruiting. Eventually, the two became close friends while Lloyd grew into an associate head coach role before he left to take over Arizona in April 2021.
"We had 20 awesome years together," Few said. "Our families grew up together. He started as a volunteer and grad assistant and he was just a relentless worker with a really positive spirit, and developed a great feel for the game. As it progressed, there wasn't any doubt that he was going to be a great head coach."
Few said he thought it was a "great move" that Arizona saw that in Lloyd even when he was an assistant, though the UA administration changed since his April 2021 hiring.
Lloyd and his program have recently been battling over financial resources, but interest from North Carolina and the Final Four appearance gave Lloyd leverage and on Friday he announced he would stay at Arizona.
Lloyd agreed to a new five-year deal that guarantees him $7.19 million next season plus assurances over financial support of his program and its roster budget.
Along the way, Few and Lloyd discussed the situation, naturally.
"We talk about everything, man. We been together for 20 years," Few said. "We've been talking through the whole tournament. We always talk, and then our families were together Wednesday night and Thursday night. I just knew they had to.get things better at Arizona, make it right."
