What Mark Few had to say about the Gonzaga basketball documentary after special screening

Bulldogs head coach reflected on his program's remarkable run of excellence during early screening of "Gonzaga: The Slipper Still Fits"

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Erik Smith

Mark Few doesn't allow himself many opportunities to reflect publicly on the achievements and accolades he and Gonzaga have racked up during the program's unprecedented run of success these past two-plus decades.

Monday was one of those rare occasions where the architect behind one of the greatest success stories in college basketball history got to sit back and admire the work he and generations of players and staff put into building the Bulldogs into a national powerhouse.

Surrounded by the players, coaches, administrators and families who helped make it all possible, Few reflected on his coaching journey and the Zags' rise to prominence over the course of a few hours at the Bing Crosby Theater in downtown Spokane, where the filmmakers of "Gonzaga: The Slipper Still Fits" documentary put on a special early screening ahead of Friday's official release on Tubi.

The documentary, which covers just about every major era of Gonzaga hoops, starting with John Stockton all the way through to the current Zags, was produced by investor and business leader Thomas Tull, whom Few met through USA Basketball, and was executive produced by Words + Pictures. It features interviews with a who's-who of alumni, including John Stockton, Adam Morrison, Dan Dickau, Chet Holmgren, Andrew Nembhard, Jalen Suggs, Corey Kispert, Drew Timme and Domantas Sabonis,

Here's what Few had to say about the documentary, how it was put together and more, after the screening.

His general thoughts of the documentary

"Emotional, funny — a whole tandem of emotions, man. I thought it was great. It was so nice to be able to jolt some of those memories. There's a lot got left on the cutting room floor, because there's so much good stuff. Thomas [Tull] did a great job of narrowing it down to make it palatable and entertaining for somebody to watch in Ohio or New York."

On being able to reflect on the program's success

"It hits you totally, man. Hits you in your heat, it hits you in your soul, warms your soul. This reminds you that you're so blessed to be in a great place and just be around an awesome group of people and players over all these years, to the people over on staff, to people you work with, the Gonzaga and the people in the community that made this. It took a village to get the program like this."

On the documentary crew's access to the team

"They were great. We just laid down some ground rules. We just kind of went with it. If there was anything that was ever uncomfortable or I didn't like, especially around game day, and anything in particular about the locker room."

"But it is arduous; people around you every single day, filming. But the camera people, the director, everybody; I'm just so blessed to have met Thomas, to have him in my life. He's a fascinating guy and even better person. And it's just cool that this program touched him. He wanted to do this. I think that's pretty cool. He's got a lot of things going on in his life, a lot bigger than Gonzaga, so it's really cool."

On what he hopes the current Gonzaga team takes away from the documentary

"I think there's some powerful messaging in there. Obviously, not every one of these seasons went smooth. There's a lot of adversity you got to fight through, and when you do, usually good things happen."

"Those were all great seasons. Now we're in the middle of a great season. I mean, we're 28-3 and dealt with more adversity than I think I could ever remember us dealing with. I mean, there's a lot you need to step back, and everybody needs to step back and say, wow."

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