Former Gonzaga assistant coach Ray Giacoletti catches up with former boss Mark Few

Dec. 23—Ray Giacoletti sat in the first row behind Gonzaga's bench for the Alabama game last Saturday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

He was roughly 6 feet behind seats he'd occupied for 34 years at arenas around the country during a coaching career that included stops at Eastern Washington as head coach from 2001-04 and Gonzaga as an assistant from 2008-13.

It was easy for Giacoletti to snag a prime seat. Mark Few, his former boss at Gonzaga, and Giacoletti have been friends for three decades and they chat every week.

Few mentioned during one of those phone conversations six weeks ago that the Zags would be facing Alabama in Birmingham. That was news to Giacoletti, who retired in June and has been slowly unplugging from the college basketball world at his home near the beach in the Florida panhandle.

"I didn't even realize it until he said they were playing in Birmingham and he asked how far was that from me," Giacoletti said. "So I got a buddy of mine and we drove up (the day before the game), watched them practice and then had a chance to go to dinner with Mark."

It was immediately like old times as topics shifted from family to memorable games to tales from the recruiting trail.

"It's a lot of water under the bridge," Giacoletti said. "You start reminiscing about the first time we'd met, it's just crazy. You go back to 1992. We'd just taken the (assistant coaching) job at Washington. I didn't know anybody and Mark and Dan Monson were the first two guys I met. I still remember we were at Oceanside (California) High at an AAU event. We've become great friends ever since."

Giacoletti has kept an eye on the Zags this season. He's watched a handful of games on television and saw firsthand arguably GU's best performance of the season in a 100-90 victory over Alabama.

"That's the only thing I can function on our TV," Giacoletti cracked. "I can get to all the ESPN+ stuff."

He also talks frequently with many of his and Few's closest friends, including Mark Turgeon and former GU assistants Billy Grier, now an assistant at Colorado, and Leon Rice, head coach at Boise State.

Giacoletti's coaching career began in 1984 as a grad assistant at his alma mater Minot State (North Dakota). His first assistant coaching job came at Oral Roberts, followed by an assistant's role with the Fresno Flames in the World Basketball League. He returned to the college ranks at Illinois State and then Washington before landing his first head coaching position at North Dakota State in 1997.

After three winning seasons at NDSU, Giacoletti guided EWU's program to new heights. The Eagles finished second in the Big Sky three straight seasons before breaking through in 2004 with regular-season and tournament titles and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance. Few watched EWU's 71-59 title-game win over Northern Arizona at Reese Court from a seat close to the Eagles' bench.

Led by guards Alvin Snow and Brendon Merritt and versatile forward Marc Axton, the Eagles were tied with second-seeded Oklahoma State at half before falling 75-56 in the first round.

Giacoletti made it back-to-back NCAA Tournaments when he guided Utah to the 2005 Mountain West Conference title and the Sweet 16 in the first of his three seasons as head coach.

Few hired Giacoletti to replace Grier, who left for the head coaching job at San Diego. Giacoletti spent six years with the Zags before his final head coaching gig at Drake. He finished up with three seasons as an assistant at Saint Louis.

"I was a head coach four different times," said Giacoletti, who was an analyst on college basketball telecasts before joining Travis Ford's staff at SLU. "I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have had that, but you always wanted to win some more games."

Giacoletti's next task is winning in retirement. He admits it hasn't been as easy as it sounds after three-plus decades of long hours in the coaching profession.

"You don't have a whole lot of time outside of coaching to experience life, so we're trying to figure that out, go travel and see different things," he said.

A future endeavor will combine travel, basketball and long-time friend Rice. Giacoletti has signed on with WorldStrides, which coordinates international trips for college basketball teams.

"Leon is taking his team this August to Greece," Giacoletti said. "Kim (Giacoletti's wife) and I will host them and we've talked about staying afterward with Leon and Robin and hanging out over there.

"I was in Athens for the Olympics in 2004 with (former Utah star and No. 1 draft pick Andrew) Bogut. Whenever you'd go overseas, it was for work and you never had a chance to see everything. I was with Bogut (who played for the Australian national team) for five days and it was usually my hotel to games and back. So I've got a chance now to maybe see the world and some places and try to take advantage of it."