What South Carolina likes about assistant Winston Gandy, wants in his replacement
Winston Gandy’s time with South Carolina is nearing an end.
The USC assistant was hired to be head coach of the Grand Canyon women’s basketball team on March 24.
Gandy, whose tenure started in April 2023, will remain with the Gamecocks until the end of this season. That makes South Carolina’s matchup with UConn in the NCAA Tournament championship game Sunday his final game as a Gamecock.
“We knew he was on borrowed time when we got him,” Dawn Staley before the Sweet 16. “We were hoping for a little bit more time with him, but duty calls for him to be a head coach. Super happy. Couldn’t happen to a better person, a better coach.”
Staley’s staff — which consists of Lisa Boyer, Jolette Law, Mary Wooley and Khadijah Sessions — will have an empty spot after Gandy departs for Phoenix.
Exactly when Staley fills that soon-to-be-vacant role is still to be determined. When the time comes, a few Gamecocks shared with The State what they think makes an ideal assistant coach.
Chloe Kitts said Gandy’s younger age (34 years old) gives him the ability to relate to the Gamecocks’ roster on a personal level. That’s something she values about Gandy and hopes to see in his potential replacement.
“Winston’s definitely the youngest assistant on our staff … he gets to know us more and he can relate more because he is younger,” Kitts said. “He’s just someone you can really go and talk to. So I think it would be nice — I’m sure Coach is going to fill the spot with someone maybe a little bit younger — just to keep that same relationships, to get personal. And obviously someone who can hold us accountable and knows what they’re doing.”
Raven Johnson, who could return for another year with the Gamecocks next year, agreed with Kitts’ and said having a “young-minded” assistant coach could be beneficial to the Gamecocks.
“Because we’re kind of a little crazy outside of basketball — we say some crazy stuff,” Johnson joked. “We’re also young adults. We voice our opinions on a lot of things. So having a coach like that that can listen, and be open-minded, and that could be on us when it’s time to be on us.”
The ideal replacement for Gandy needs to also be able to figure out how to tailor their approach to different individual players, Johnson said.
“You gotta just know how players are. Some players can’t take screaming (and) some players can’t take soft talk,” Johnson said. “...You gotta be hard on players, getting them in the gym. It’s honestly the days that you don’t want to get in the gym that matters. I think Winston does a great job of that, because a lot of us don’t want to get in the gym. Sometimes we want to leave the gym and he’s like, ‘No, you can’t leave the gym until you get 100 makes in or until you get 100 free throws in.’ ”
This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM.
