Wendale Farrow’s first impressions of Dawn Staley, South Carolina WBB
There’s an old adage that says “the people make the place.” Essentially meaning it’s not the literal and physical characteristics of a place that make it special. Rather, it’s the connections one makes with the people there.
That saying has rung true for new South Carolina women’s basketball assistant coach Wendale Farrow since arriving in Columbia two months ago.
Ask him what stands out about his new gig are and he immediately responds with, “The people.”
“Everybody here has helped me acclimate to trying to get used to Columbia,” Farrow told The State. “So the people have been my biggest impression. From the people around town, people out in restaurants, people out in Walmart, people at the gas stations.
“South Carolina women’s basketball is a living, breathing thing.”
Farrow was hired back on April 18, 12 days after the Gamecocks’ season-ending loss to UConn in the 2025 national championship game in Tampa.
The 37-year-old replaced the hole on Dawn Staley’s staff left by the departure of Winston Gandy, who took the head coaching job at Grand Canyon.
How he landed the job
Farrow comes to South Carolina fresh off a four-year stint at Southern California, the other USC. Prior to that he spent five seasons at Cal. A Sacramento native, he’s spent most of his life out on the West Coast so it makes sense he didn’t recognize an 803 area code when Staley gave him a call.
“Staley, she called me and the first thing I saw was — I never saw an 803 number before and it says South Carolina,” Farrow said. “In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this can’t be Dawn.’ That’s only on the person I’ve ever known in my life from South Carolina.”
Farrow sounded a bit surprised while recalling how Staley called him before both South Carolina and Southern Cal made their respective runs in the NCAA Tournament and told him he was a “person of interest” and “when the time comes” she wanted to have a conversation about potentially bringing him on staff.
“It kind of just blew me away that she had so much respect for what I’ve done at my previous school and also had interest to bring me to her program where she’s done, obviously, a tremendous and exceptional job,” Farrow said. “So I think once we kind of really got into what aligned for my career and what she wants for her program and her players, I kind of saw the opportunity to come here.”
First impressions of the team
Farrow knows how loaded the roster is at South Carolina and aims to help bring the Gamecocks another title during his tenure.
“You come here because you know South Carolina has multiple players that are accomplished, that are national champions, and you want to be able to help them get their their next one,” Farrow said.
He’s already hit the ground running with the Gamecocks. Just four days after he was announced as Staley’s new assistant, pictures of Farrow practicing with the team were posted to South Carolina’s social media accounts.
The intensity that the Gamecocks had during practice that day (shortly after the season had concluded, no less) impressed Farrow.
“Obviously you have players who’ve made it to another national championship game, kind of have a feeling of a bitterness that they want to kind of get out of their mouth and want to overcome and move forward,” Farrow said. “So it was very intense. The pace for spring practice here was high level. Every rep, the intensity, I thought that really kind of just showed me, OK, this is a group that’s serious about their goals.”
Farrow’s role for the Gamecocks
Farrow told The State he’ll likely be working with South Carolina’s guards the most, similar to what he did during his stint at Southern Cal.
“Here, I think I’ll be tasked with working with our backcourt players, our guards,” Farrow said. “So that’s going to be super fun, because we have players like Raven Johnson, Tessa (Johnson), we got (Ta’Niya) Latson coming in, we got Mouse (Maddy McDaniel) who’s coming back for a second year. So we’re super excited to grow that group.”
Farrow started just in time to hit a few quiet and evaluation periods on the NCAA recruiting calendar for the Gamecocks. He said his role is to help find players who aren’t just talented, but fit the program Staley has built.
“You really have to evaluate their skill sets (and) you also have to look at the intangibles,” Farrow said. “Are they coachable? How are they at a 9 a.m.game opposed to a 7 p.m. game? Are they staying on the same club team, or are they hopping to different teams? So there’s a lot that goes into it, but when I look at the players that we have looked at thus far, they do have those intangibles. Now, it’s deciding what skill sets do we want to add to next year’s roster, and I think that changes year by year.”
Two weeks ago Staley told The State she was looking for someone with a skillset similar to Gandy’s to replace him and found just that in Farrow. Staley lauded how well-rounded Farrow’s skillset is back in April.
“I think the best coaches in the country do all things at all high levels,” Farrow said. “...I’ve been in a program that comes from having a top 10 offense in the country, grew our defense over the last three years, and had one of the best defenses two years ago in the country, had the the second highest player in scoring in the country. So (I’m) able to have that experience and be able to have my input and add my ideas to that. I’m definitely gonna try to lend that to this program when it comes to scouting and preparation.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
