Inside The Huskies

Pondexter Leaves USC on Heels of Yates' Departure

The former Husky standout player and Mike Hopkins assistant coach spent a year with the Trojans.
Dan Raley|
Quincy Pondexter, shown with his son Carter, will not return as an assistant coach at USC.
Quincy Pondexter, shown with his son Carter, will not return as an assistant coach at USC. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images

Two days after Wesley Yates III left the USC basketball program, Quincy Pondexter will exit, as well, according to 247Sports.

One was the Trojans' second-leading scorer at 14.1 points per game; the other an assistant coach for Eric Musselman's staff.

Yates and Pondexter, formerly of the University of Washington, are cousins, of course.

It's not clear whether one departure had a bearing on the other.

Or whether Pondexter, 37, left on his own volition.

Either way, Will Conroy remains as an assistant on the USC staff as the only former Husky connection.

Pondexter, a standout forward for Lorenzo Romar's UW teams (2007-11) and then an NBA player for a decade, returned to his alma mater in 2021 to launch his college coaching career with Mike Hopkins' staff and spent three seasons with the Huskies.

Conroy, Pondexter and Yates all relocated to USC once Hopkins was fired a year ago and shared in a 17-18 Trojans team, one that swept the Huskies in two games in Big Ten play.

Yates was a highly decorated freshman guard from Beaumont, Texas, who spent the 2023-24 season at the UW but never appeared in any games because of a series of foot injuries.

On Saturday, Yates re-entered the transfer portal with a "do not contact" order, which means he probably has a pretty good idea where he's going to play next. Kentucky could be his rebound destination.

As for Pondexter, it's not clear what his next step will be, whether he'll continue on with coaching or not.

To get 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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