The Washington Huskies men's basketball team is working to improve on its standing in the Big Ten compared to the first two years under head coach Danny Sprinkle. The Huskies are attempting to change those fortunes this season, with a roster that will feature nine newcomers (three international signings, five transfer acquisitions and one Class of 2026 commitment). Unfortunately, Washington won't have one of its top assistants to help with that. According to a post on "X" from Hardwood Intel (@hardwoodintel), Huskies assistant coach Quincy Pondexter has been hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls' G-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls. Pondexter has been a fixture in the Washington men's basketball landscape since his college career in the mid-to-late-2000s. The Fresno, Calif., native played with the Huskies from 2006-10. During his final year of college ball in '10, Pondexter earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors. He averaged 19.3 points on 52.8% shooting from the floor (35.3% from 3-point range) in 36 games (all starts). He also averaged 7.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
3/18/2010: Quincy Pondexter (@QuincyPondexter) drives past Marquette’s Jimmy Butler and finishes off the glass to give UW the lead with 1.7 seconds left in the first round of the NCAA tournament. UW would win 80-78, Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) led all UW scorers with 19 points. pic.twitter.com/wxkdpXvsgS — Random UW Clips (@uwhighlights) January 13, 2025 Following Pondexter's college career, he parlayed that into an NBA career and was picked 26th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2010 NBA Draft. Before his rookie season begun, the Thunder dealt him to the New Orleans Pelicans. Pondexter spent nine seasons in the NBA, including two stints with the Pelicans (2010-11; 2015-17), Memphis Grizzlies (2011-15), Bulls (2017-18) and San Antonio Spurs (2018-19). The Fresno, Calif., native played in 355 games across his career (48 starts) and averaged 4.5 points on 42.3% shooting (35.6% from beyond the arc) in addition to 1.8 rebounds. Following Pondexter's NFL career coming to an end, he went into coaching. He originally returned to his alma mater and was an assistant at Washington under former head coach Mike Hopkins from 2021-24. Hopkins was fired following the 2023-24 season and Pondexter spend one season with the Southern California (USC) Trojans in the 2023-24 season, which was Sprinkle's first as head coach of the program. Pondexter quickly proved himself as a quality recruiter in his coaching career. Pondexter returned to the UW staff ahead of last season. Coinciding with Pondexter's coaching moves, redshirt junior guard Wesley Yates III initially committed to UW ahead of the '23-24 season, transferred to USC in the '24-25 season and transferred back to the Huskies ahead of last season. Yates is one of six players from last year's roster returning to the team this season and averaged the most points among the players who came back to the program this offseason.