Inside The Huskies

Trojans Make It Official, Hire Pondexter As Hoop Assistant

He joins an exodus of people moving from the UW to USC.
Dan Raley|
Quincy Pondexter was a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2019 before turning to coaching.
Quincy Pondexter was a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2019 before turning to coaching. | Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Quincy Pondexter is the latest to join the steady exodus of University of Washington athletic personnel to USC in recent years, even weeks, in joining the Trojans on Thursday as an assistant coach for Eric Musselman's new basketball staff.

Pondexter wiill reunite with Will Conroy as former Husky basketball players turned Mike Hopkins assistant coaches who have now resurfaced at USC after Hopkins was fired in March, leaving them both looking for work.

That both of them moved from one school to another together, without their previous head coach getting hired and becoming responsible for taking them there, certainly is unique.

They follow athletic director Jen Cohen, who left the UW for the Trojans last August and took deputy athletic directors Jay Hilbrands and Jason Cappadoro with her.

And senior cornerback Jacobe Covington remains on the USC football team as a former Husky, preceded by graduated wide receiver Terrell Bynum, who likewise joined the Trojans after transferring from the UW.

Pondexter, 36, spent three seasons as an assistant with the UW basketball program, largely in charge of the big men and doing his share of recruiting, which included bringing a cousin, 4-star guard Wesley Yates III, to Montlake. Yates entered the transfer portal once the coaching change took place.

Pondexter returned to his alma mater following an NBA career that spanned 10 seasons with four franchises, among them the New Orleans Hornets and Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlles, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs.

From Fresno, California, he played for the Huskies in 2007-2010, twice was named captain, earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors as a senior averaging 18.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, and twice led the UW into the NCAA Tournament. He was a first-round NBA draft pick, the 28th player taken overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2010 -- two years after that franchise uprooted from Seattle.

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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