Coach Few Cited For Drunk Driving

[DZ]

Legitimate topic.? Who says?? Spare me the Mayo quote. I used to work there and manages the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Nothing special there. Beat a topic to death when all has been said. Seems shallow and lightweight. Doesn’t merit new knowledge or really anything. Some chit chat but this much is plainly ridiculous. Beside any good lawyer...a good one... would understand that he’s charged, not convicted and he plead not guilty. This whole thread is based on media reports. But it goes on as if he’s dead in the water. Far from it. Way far from it. Go on if you want but it’s hardly worth the 20 pages this thread is headed for.

I am going to dash in and out.

This isn't a legal problem. Few has the resources to withstand anything, the suspension, the increased insurances rates, and the counseling on how to keep this from happening again. The regular joe box stacker who lives miles from where he works has a big legal problem, people won't give him any benefit of the doubt. Few doesn't have a big legal problem. The case can be dismissed tomorrow but it doesn't pull the police report off the net or from people's memory.

"Cited for DUI" is what he (and we) would hear in its place.

Few and the university have an immense PR problem bc we are the program and the school where stuff at this level happens either rarely or not at all.

Imagine what Few would do if one of the assistants has a police report like that in the papers? So now square the problem and put it in President McCullah's lap because Thayne is the real judge and the public is the real jury. How Few and Gonzaga navigate the next six months is critical. Everyone in college basketball is trying to tear us down, have been for years. They've just been handed some rope. It won't stop us but it will make things more difficult.


Last, people are still grieving. Right or not, we elevate our heroes to the point where they're supposed to be better than us and better than this, certainly. Let people talk through it bc the same conversation will be going on in the Ad building.

[Markburn1]

I don't personally know very many of you, and the ones I have met were over dinner and a few beers. Afterward, when we left, I don't know how many of us would have passed a breathalyzer test. I don't know where that standard would lie. 2-3 beers at NO-LI? Over 2 hours with dinner? I don't drive impaired, but cannot honestly say that I don't drive after a couple of beers with dinner.
The only ones that can say that they have never driven somewhat impaired, are the ones that never drink, at all.

You are the guy that scares me. Designated drivers is a thing. Once again, diminishing the seriousness of this because you think most of us do it is not cool.

[willandi]

You are the guy that scares me. Designated drivers is a thing. Once again, diminishing the seriousness of this because you think most of us do it is not cool.

I didn't diminish anything and I know that, unless you have never had a drink outside your home, that you have done this at one time or another.
The ones that scare me are the ones that deny ever having done so.

[zagfan08]

I mean, not everyone has driven at .12. Don't think it's fair to say that.

This has been a good thread but might be reaching a danger zone here.

[Markburn1]

I didn't diminish anything and I know that, unless you have never had a drink outside your home, that you have done this at one time or another.
The ones that scare me are the ones that deny ever having done so.

Sorry Will. You don't know.

I don't drink. My kids do. They make sure they have designated drivers if they know they will "have a couple". If you don't, you are taking the same chance that Few did. Not cool.

[Zag365]

The Josh Heytvelt incident was well-handled IMO. I'm sure the ID prosecutor, Coach Few, GU, and the MBB program (players, boosters, etc.) will deal with this one appropriately as well. It will take a several weeks/months to get past the initial shock, confusion, and instant punditry before a reasonable resolution emerges. The three "keys to success" (sports analogy here) are: (1) let the criminal process playout with no interference. Ask no favors and only insist on being treated similarly to others cited for DUI with similar facts; (2) on a separate track, GU imposes discipline in a manner consistent with school values and how other cases of a similar nature have been handled - again, no favors or cutting corners because the individual is a "star" in the MBB program; and (3) Coach Few, as he has already started to do, expresses appropriate contrition publicly and privately, doesn't obfuscate or make excuses, and demonstrates by conduct going forward there ain't gonna be a repeat of this lapse in judgment.

[willandi]

Sorry Will. You don't know.

I don't drink. My kids do. They make sure they have designated drivers if they know they will "have a couple". If you don't, you are taking the same chance that Few did. Not cool.

I understand, but I also don't believe that there has never been a time when your kids haven't driven after a couple. They will not have told you, and I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but when intent is to just have a short visit that becomes longer, and one drink becomes two, and the distance is not far...I believe that it has happened to everyone that drinks, one time or another.
Sorry but you won't be able to convince me otherwise.

[zagfan08]

The Josh Heytvelt incident was well-handled IMO. I'm sure the ID prosecutor, Coach Few, GU, and the MBB program (players, boosters, etc.) will deal with this one appropriately as well. It will take a several weeks/months to get past the initial shock, confusion, and instant punditry before a reasonable resolution emerges. The three "keys to success" (sports analogy here) are: (1) let the criminal process playout with no interference. Ask no favors and only insist on being treated similarly to others cited for DUI with similar facts; (2) on a separate track, GU imposes discipline in a manner consistent with school values and how other cases of a similar nature have been handled - again, no favors or cutting corners because the individual is a "star" in the MBB program; and (3) Coach Few, as he has already started to do, expresses appropriate contrition publicly and privately, doesn't obfuscate or make excuses, and demonstrates by conduct going forward there ain't gonna be a repeat of this lapse in judgment.

This is a good post and I'm pretty confident all this will happen. The suspension from the school will probably leave some people thinking it was too strong and some thinking it wasn't strong enough. It helps when people don't weigh in on a legal process they're unfamiliar with, although that's probably too much to expect.

[HenneZag]

I didn't diminish anything and I know that, unless you have never had a drink outside your home, that you have done this at one time or another.
The ones that scare me are the ones that deny ever having done so.

As Few stated once they first asked initially that he had no drinks. Later changed his tune to 1-2 beers several hours ago.

[gu03alum]

This thread is kind of hilarious. I agree with Abe (never thought I would say that in my lifetime).

I wonder if this thread will get moved to the hall of fame forum.

[ZagsObserver]

I’m with Abe. Dissect away. He who throws stones…

[IowaSERE]

I don't personally know very many of you, and the ones I have met were over dinner and a few beers. Afterward, when we left, I don't know how many of us would have passed a breathalyzer test. I don't know where that standard would lie. 2-3 beers at NO-LI? Over 2 hours with dinner? I don't drive impaired, but cannot honestly say that I don't drive after a couple of beers with dinner.
The only ones that can say that they have never driven somewhat impaired, are the ones that never drink, at all.

This! I sure see a lot full of cars at Jack and Dan's on game night too. That lot is always empty at the end of the night.

None of you met up at J&D for a few beers before the game, then you have a few at the pregame social, the maybe after a Zags win you stop back at Jack and Dan's to celebrate?

[daskim]

Don't visit the thread if you don't see any point to it. Calling for censorship ( locking the thread ) is BS.

It's not censorship to stop a thread that dissecting another person's unfortunate circumstance. All based a police reports and hearsay.

This thread is no different than all the gossip shows on television.

[Reborn]

I haven't been on this site for awhile. i've enjoyed reading this thread and want to thank the mods for keeping it open. It's been almost 100% civil with mostly just personal experiences and stories. I'm not one who is without wrongdoing in this area of life so I won't judge Mark. I've never gotten a DUI but should have gotten several after being pulled over by a policeman. I was one who was lucky.

I mostly feel a lot of empathy for Mark and his family because they will suffer a lot of humiliation. It will take time for the pain and the cloud of meanness to go away, because there will be many who throw a lot of mud at Coach Few. Here is my take. I believe in both Mark Few, Gonzaga and the athletic department that this will be handled with pure class. I believe that because I've seen how all of the above have handled similar situations that were like this. In every instance Gonzaga and Few have handled them with class and courage and in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. I won't give my opinion of how I think that this should be handled because I know I couldn't give any advice that would be better than what Gonzaga, Few and the athletic program will or could be said. I trust and believe that Gonzaga will do and say the right thing. Why do I say that? Because in my opinion Gonzaga is the best and classiest university in the country. They will not embarrass us nor make us angry. They will handle this in a very good way. In the meantime, I will wait and see what they say and do. I am 100% behind whatever they do or say. It's not a matter of right or wrong. We know it was wrong. How bad was this? I'll wait for the university to say. I want to thank everyone for contributing in mostly a very classy way.

[Markburn1]

This! I sure see a lot full of cars at Jack and Dan's on game night too. That lot is always empty at the end of the night.

None of you met up at J&D for a few beers before the game, then you have a few at the pregame social, the maybe after a Zags win you stop back at Jack and Dan's to celebrate?

Call me crazy, but I don't understand this argument. It smacks of teenagers saying "all my friends do it, it's no big deal". Pretty sure Few won't be taking this tack. Just because you or your friends and family have done it once or several times doesn't make it any less dangerous.

I'm going to bail on this conversation because I'd like to see the thread continue.

Carry on.