Inside The Huskies

Conroy, UW Basketball Icon, Comes Home to Try and Beat the Huskies

The Seattle native and former point guard and assistant coach now works for USC.

Dan Raley

Ex=Washington assistant coach Will Conroy returns in the same role with USC to face the Huskies.
Ex=Washington assistant coach Will Conroy returns in the same role with USC to face the Huskies. / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Basically a gym rat, a teenaged Will Conroy embarked on the short trek from Garfield High School to play basketball without a scholarship for the University of Washington, for a coach on his last legs in Bob Bender, for a program in need of a refresh.

That was nearly a quarter of a century ago in 2001, when this hometown point guard attended his first college classes the same month that terrorists flew commercial jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an empty Pennsylvania field.

Conroy would become one of the most beloved figures in UW basketball annals, piling up credentials as the school's all-time assist leader, a teammate for Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson, and an assistant coach for both Lorenzo Romar and Mike Hopkins,

On Saturday at Alaska Airlines Arena, Conroy will try something entirely new with the Huskies -- he will show up for the 3 p.m. tipoff as an opponent, as a member of Eric Musselman's new USC coaching staff, as someone trying to beat his old team.

At first, it will seem odd to see Conroy sitting on the visitor's bench at the East end of the arena, no doubt with his mom Renee, other family members and friends sitting behind him, all on hand to share in this moment.

After a decade as a pro basketball career that took him briefly to the NBA and for a much longer period all over Europe and into smaller American basketball markets in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, Conroy turned to coaching in 2015. He spent three years as an assistant for Romar until that man was fired and another seven with Hopkins until that man was dismissed, seamlessly moving from staff to staff before he could go no farther at the UW.

With Hopkins out, Conroy seriously looked into becoming the next Husky head basketball coach and got a precursory interview, but the athletic administration was set on hiring Danny Sprinkle. He made himself available to join this new UW leader, but Sprinkle had his own plans for a staff.

So Conroy, along with Quincy Pondexter, similarly a former Husky playing great and a one-time Hopkins assistant coach, ended up in Los Angeles to work for Musselman. They were reacquainted tieh former UW athletic director Jen Cohen now heading up the Trojans' sports teams and accompanied by a few other assorted administrators. They also took promising redshirt freshman guard Wesley Yates III, a Husky redshirt last season, with them to USC.

The presence of Conroy, a Husky through and through but not on this Saturday, will just add to what should be a festive and maybe a little emotional afternoon in Montlake.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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