Recruiting Weakness?

As with any program with the success Gonzaga has had, there are Mark Few supporters, haters, and those who just want to have some fun at his expense (like the twitter account @NotMarkFew). Coach Few has come under fire from those who believe he cannot adjust his coaching plan in game, he needs to calm down his substitutions to allow players to get into a “groove," or that he simply gets “out-coached” in big games. But no coach can please everyone all the time. Although Gonzaga has announced that Tommy Lloyd is the coach-in-waiting, giving Gonzaga fans a glimpse of the future, rest assured it is not the near future. 49-year-old Few has shown no signs of retiring or slowing down. This year he even accepted an assistant coaching job with the under-18 team.

So what can fans expect from Coach Few during the remainder of his time at the helm? More of the same? How can Coach Few improve? All of these questions and more Gonzaga fans ask on a daily basis, but none are as important for the future as “Can Few adjust to the 21st Century?”

Mark Few has never shocked the world with his technical savvy or social networking prowess. He has always shied away from the public spotlight, preferring to keep his private life exactly that, private. You won't find Coach Few on Twitter or sharing his thoughts on Facebook; in fact Few barely likes to do interviews (as anyone who has ever seen Coach Few at a press conference can attest to). No, Coach Few's focus is on developing players, and so far he has done just fine without social media. Along with his coaching staff, Coach Few has been able to continually find hidden gems all around the world and develop them into incredible players. This has been a successful strategy for the Bulldogs, and Coach Few has a career coaching record of 342-90, an incredible percentage of 0.792. His 13 straight post-season appearances speak for themselves---a streak only bested by perennial powerhouses like Kansas State, Duke, and Michigan State. Yet while Few has been incredibly successful, Gonzaga has yet to make the elite eight since the legendary 1999 team.

This summer many of the country's premier coaches have been traveling the AAU circuit on private jets or hopping into rental cars to visit their various top-tier recruits, but many will also be keeping an eye on their programs from afar with the assistance of Twitter and smartphones. Previous Coach Dan Monson stated “You're never far away from it all (recruiting) because of email and cellphones.” Social Media is today's recruiting tool. On Twitter, coaches can't publicly mention recruits, but they are allowed to send direct messages. With Twitter, coaches are able to get to know recruits on a more personal level, seeing not just what they do on the court, but also what kind of a people they are off of the court. Cornerback Yuri Wright found this out the hard way, losing a scholarship after posting several sexually graphic and racially explicit posts on his Twitter account. It also gives coaches inside information and ideas of how to recruit each particular athlete.

Some of the Gonzaga Staff are already on Twitter. Kelly Graves, Gonzaga women’s head basketball coach (@kgzag) Twitter feed is a great mix of personal, family, and program promotion. One thing he does really well is keep his followers up on where his alumni players are, and what they’re doing. Gonzaga's men's team has an account too, but it has only garnered 1,013 followers compared to Duke's 49,088 or in-state rival University of Washington's 21,064. Obviously, Gonzaga is behind in the social media game.

Although social media and text messages should not be a substitute for real relationships with recruits, social media can be the first step. Some recruits still do prefer a hand-written letter, but with the opportunity for unlimited Twitter private messages, why not? For so many high school athletes a smartphone is their connection to the world, and an opportunity to enter into that world with the recruit should not be quickly dismissed. Coaches have to figure out what works best for each recruit, while still staying true to who they are and the program they represent. Coach Few needs to decide if he is willing to embrace the 21st century. Even 70-year-old Georgia State Coach Bill Curry has a Twitter account and understands, "We're in the midst of a communication revolution, which is changing our culture, changing our government. It's changed a fundamental part of what we do, too, and it's not slowing down."

And Coach Few, of all people, should be happy for the convenience of social media. Afterall, he can Tweet while he fly fishes.