South Carolina’s Dawn Staley has made her feelings known after it was announced her assistant coach Winston Gandy would be taking up the Grand Canyon University top job.

South Carolina’s Dawn Staley has offered up praise for her assistant Winston Gandy, who has been confirmed as Grand Canyon University’s next head coach.

While the Gamecocks, the defending national champions, continue to prepare for their Sweet 16 match-up against Maryland following their 64-53 win over Indiana in the second round of March Madness, they will do so in the knowledge that come the end of the season, Gandy will be moving on.

Having worked as Maryland’s director of recruiting for a year between 2013 and 2014, Gandy was in charge of player development with the NBA’s Washington Wizards for three years following his stint with the former school. He went on to coach Rice as their associate head coach between 2017 to 2020 before taking up a job at Duke in the same role between 2020 and 2023.

Dawn Staley is losing one of her coaches, Winston Gandy (furthest to the right)

Following his time at Duke, Gandy joined the Gamecocks, working under Staley for three years. However, it has now been confirmed that during the midst of March Madness, the South Carolina assistant coach will take up the role at Grand Canyon as their women’s basketball head coach,

In a statement, Staley praised Gandy, calling him “one of the hardest workers and best recruiters in our sport.” The Gamecocks head coach said: “I’m thrilled for Winston Gandy on being named the head coach at Grand Canyon University.

“Over the past two seasons with our program at South Carolina, I’ve seen firsthand his incredible work ethic, recruiting talent and passion for the game. Winston is one of the hardest workers and best recruiters in our sport, and he’s a true student of the game.

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“More importantly, he genuinely cares about our players and builds real relationships on and off the court. He’ll always be part of our Gamecock family, and I know he’s ready for this opportunity. I have no doubt he’ll do a fantastic job at GCU, and I can’t wait to watch him thrive as a head coach.”

While Gandy will remain with South Carolina until the end of their NCAA Tournament campaign, he was introduced to the media on Monday. Speaking at his introductory press conference, Gandy said: “I’m a firm believer that the people make the place.

“You look at the strong Christian foundation that this university has; we talk about impacting young women to affect the rest of their lives. I mean, what better place?”