Trojan Olympic Great Watts Added To USC's T&F Staff

Watts won two gold medals at the 1992 Olympics


Quincy Watts
Aug. 12, 2013




Former Trojan Olympic great Quincy Watts has been added to the USC track and field staff, announced Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert today (Aug. 12).

"We are delighted to be able to add former Trojan great and Olympian Quincy Watts to the USC track and field staff as a sprints coach," said Smith Gilbert. "He was a great athlete here at USC and fits in well with our desire to add to the unparalleled legacy of the Trojan track and field program. Quincy is a really good person and did a great job as a coach at CS Northridge and I look forward to working with him."

Watts, who came to USC specializing in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, turned into the best 400-meter runner in USC history. The four-year (1989-92) letterman won the 1992 NCAA 400-meter race in a meet record time of 44.00 (he finished second in 1991) and he also ran the anchor leg on the USC school-record 1600-meter relay team that placed second (3:00.58). The Trojan co-captain continued his torrid 1992 campaign by winning gold medals at the Barcelona Olympics in the 400m (in an Olympic and still-standing USC record time of 43.50) and in the 1600-meter relay (in a world record time of 2:55.74). He was ranked in the world Top 10 in the 400m for four consecutive years (1991-94), including No. 1 in 1992. In the 1600m relay at the World Championships, he won a silver in 1991 and a gold in 1993 (in world record time). He also was a wide receiver on USC football team in 1990. Watts was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.

Watts spent the last two seasons as the distance coach at CS Northridge. Prior to that, Watts was an assistant coach at Harvard-Westlake High which has one of the strongest distances programs in the country. Watts began his coaching career as an assistant at Taft High, where he went to high school. Watts is originally from Detroit, Mich.


Courtesy USC