"It can be overwhelming": Gonzaga HC Mark Few discusses building roster in the new NIL era

Mark Few, a two-time Naismith Coach of the Year, has been the head coach of the Gonzaga men's basketball team since 1999. In his illustrious tenure, he led the Bulldogs to over 700 victories and 19 WCC tournament titles.

On August 21, Few joined college hoops reporter Seth Davis for a live stream interview at Bleacher Report, where he talked about his experiences in coaching in the past and the new challenges that come with the NIL era in college athletics.

"It can be overwhelming because there is just really isn't any sense of hard fast rules or we're so used to following rules," Few said. "I think we spent majority of our careers, those of us who've been doing it for long, trying to abide by and those are basically went out the window.

"We've just kind of stuck with how we do Gonzaga, man. We've been roster building for years and we base it on a strong culture and we base it on great team chemistry and I think."

Mark Few also said that he is thankful for his players, who have prioritized the team over NIL money.

"We're competitively smart in this world of NIL but there is some people theoretically throwing some pretty dumb money around out there, I don't know if it's realistic or not," Few added.

"And I really commend my guys for not going around chasing that stuff. And that's the credit how much they care about the team and how much they want to run it back this year."

Gonzaga failed to win the WCC regular season title for the first time in over a decade as Saint Mary's emerged victorious last season. Coach Few is confident that his players will rebound and get back to winning ways.

Mark Few's Gonzaga roster for the 2024–25 season

Mark Few was right about his players and their mentality as a team, since only four players from the previous season left Gonzaga this offseason.

The Bulldogs' star player from the 2023–24 season, Anton Watson, headed toward the NBA as the Boston Celtics selected him as the 54th overall pick.

Meanwhile, Colby Brooks, Luka Krajnović and Pavle Stošić took a transfer.

Mark Few added four new faces to the squad: three from the transfer window: Khalif Battle, Michael Ajayi and Braeden Smith, and one from the 2024 recruiting class, Ismaila Diagne, who played at Real Madrid Baloncesto.

Other key players on the Zags' roster are Nolan Hickman, Graham Ike, Ryan Nembhard and Steele Venters.