TEMPE - Joe Few spent his first post-playing year away from the court doing something a lot less glamorous than basketball. He worked in finance as an investment advisor, settled into a 9-to-5 routine and, for a while, figured that was that.
Then the game pulled him back.
A year removed from his Gonzaga playing career, Few was on his couch watching the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament when the pull got too strong to ignore. The feeling, he said, was strange precisely because basketball had always been such a constant.
“It was so weird, being on the outside looking in,” Joe said. “I had access to what’s going on, but not being a part of it every day when you have been for so long is a really weird feeling. You get the itch for sure.”
That itch has taken him to Arizona State, where Few is now a graduate assistant on Randy Bennett’s staff. It’s an unusual pairing on paper: the son of Gonzaga coach Mark Few working for the longtime coach of Saint Mary’s, the Zags’ old WCC rival. But Bennett didn’t hesitate when the opportunity came up.
“There was no doubt Joe would be a good fit for this profession,” Bennett said. “Having competed against his father all those years, I know he has the right mindset and mentality to succeed in the industry.”
The connection between Bennett and Few stretches back decades, through the years when Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s were locking into one of the West Coast Conference’s fiercest matchups. Joe grew up around that rivalry, and one of his favorite memories came from a win at Saint Mary’s during his junior year.
The setting helped make those games memorable. Theo Lawson, who covers Gonzaga for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, described the atmosphere in Moraga as something close to bursting at the seams.
“It’s a very intimate atmosphere. They pack it for that Gonzaga game every year,” said Theo Lawson, Gonzaga beat reporter for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane.
“I think they break a few fire codes in the process. Usually it’s so humid they have to wipe the floor a few times a game.
… Each of those games means something substantial, and usually they’re playing for the conference title.”
Even with all that history, Joe says the family never carried bitterness toward Bennett. Once Bennett landed at Arizona State, Joe reached out with his dad’s help and took the first step toward a new relationship.
“I never had any animosity for coach Bennett. My family doesn’t,” Joe said.
“We always respected him. So over the four years, I was able to kind of develop a relationship with him.
… He was one of the first people I reached out to because I really respected him.”
Joe hasn’t turned practice into a reunion of old Gonzaga stories, and he hasn’t raised the subject of the Zags’ 47-18 all-time mark against Bennett, per Gonzaga Athletics. What he has done is start absorbing a different style of basketball from what he grew up around in Spokane.
Bennett’s teams have long been defined by defense, toughness and a slower pace, a sharp contrast from the offense-heavy Gonzaga groups Joe knew so well. That difference has been part of the appeal.
“There’s so much detail in the stuff that we do here that I love,” Joe said. “(Bennett’s) just general toughness and detail is really something I’m trying to soak in.”
For Joe, the move to Tempe is also the first real break from the only place he’s ever lived. After 23 years in Spokane, he’s adjusting to a new city, new routines and a new staff. He says even the small stuff feels fresh.
“It’s a really cool spot,” Few said of Tempe. “I’ve been in the gym a lot, but when you’re not in the gym, you’re trying to get your bearings, trying to eat at new places and stuff like that.
That part’s exciting after living in one place for 23 years: trying to find new places. There’s a lot of new stuff to do.”
Basketball, of course, was never far away. Joe grew up around a Gonzaga program that won 21 WCC tournament championships and reached 27 NCAA tournaments under his father. He traveled with the team at least once a year, spent time around the bench and grew up with former Bulldogs treating him and his siblings like part of the family.
“They were all big bros when I was just 7, 8 years old running around in the gym,” Joe said.
“My days were going to school. Then, my dad would take me to the gym, and I was just around amazing people,” Few said. “It’s just all basketball, basketball, basketball.”
That environment came with pressure, too. Being Mark Few’s son meant extra attention, extra expectations and the occasional joke from fans and the outside world.
But Joe earned his way into the fold at Gonzaga, where teammates and staff respected the work he put in. Even the fan base noticed, sometimes chanting for him in blowouts in hopes Mark would put him in late.
“I think Joe developed a lot of respect from his teammates,” Lawson said. “From what I heard, he was someone who worked his tail off, and I think garnered a lot of respect for the way that he practiced and worked on the scout team.”
Now he’s trying to build that same standing in Tempe. Bennett says he’s already making his presence felt.
“He has already made an impact in our program,” Bennett said. “Not only has he learned from some of the best coaches in the game, he understands how to build relationships with players and get the most out of them. He has a great basketball mind and is an outstanding leader.”
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