Bullard Out in USC Track Shakeup

Ernie Bullard has been removed as the USC men’s track coach, and the men’s and women’s programs will be reorganized under a single coaching staff, it was announced Friday by Athletic Director Mike McGee.

The consolidated coaching staff will consist of a head coach, two full-time assistants, a part-time assistant and a volunteer assistant. McGee said that the operating budget and number of scholarships will not be affected.

Bullard, the Trojan men’s coach the last six years, has been offered reassignment within the USC athletic department, and second-year women’s coach Mike Bailey has accepted one of the full-time assistant coaching positions.

Larry Knuth, an assistant men’s coach for six years, has resigned.

The status of men’s assistants Don Quarrie and Jim Bush will be determined by the new coach, according to McGee.

Bullard, 53, said he anticipates accepting an unspecified job within the athletic department. He plans to retire in a few years.

Possible candidates for the combined USC coaching position are Ron Allice, the Long Beach City College track coach; Ted Banks, the former Texas El Paso coach, now at Riverside Community College; John Chaplin, Washington State’s track coach, and Art Venegas, UCLA’s weight coach.

Bush, the former successful head track coach at UCLA, has indicated to friends that he would rather remain at USC as an assistant, specializing in coaching hurdlers.

It is believed that the restructuring of the program was, in part, prompted by USC’s failure to make a significant showing in the recent NCAA meet. The men’s team scored only nine points and the women scored 10 on Ashley Selman’s first place in the javelin.

USC has won 26 NCAA track championships, more than any other school and has had 23 gold medal winners in the Olympic Games.

But the Trojans haven’t won an NCAA track title since 1976 and haven’t been competitive in the Pacific 10 or nationally recently

“I feel kind of burned out now,” Bullard said Friday. “It’s been a difficult year. I thought we had to come through in the NCAA (meet) and for whatever reason we didn’t.

“My first response, to a degree, is relief,” Bullard said. “You only have so much energy to put into everything. Maybe this is the best move for me. I love coaching, but I have no aspirations to coach again.”

Bullard is a former USC pole vaulter who coached at San Jose State before becoming USC’s coach in 1985.