USC Will Combine Men’s, Women’s Track Teams

After a postseason review of the program, USC is combining its men’s and women’s track and field teams and seeking a coach who will be in charge of both.

Ron Allice, coach at Long Beach City College for 16 years, is a leading candidate for the Trojan job, and he said Friday he would be interested.

“It’s a difficult situation, because I have a good job here and I know both of the coaches at USC and they have done a good job,” Allice said. “And I’ve never spoken to Mike Garrett (Trojan athletic director).”

However, there has been contact between the USC athletic department and Allice.

Men’s Coach Jim Bush and women’s Coach Barbara Edmondson were told earlier this week about the switch after a review by Daryl Gross, USC assistant athletic director. Both coaches have been told that they will be invited back next season as part of the track and field staff.

Bush, who came to USC in 1990 after a long career at UCLA, held the overall coaching job until 1992, when the programs were split. Edmondson, an Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters and member of a gold-medal sprint relay team in 1968, had been working with sprinters for both teams and took the job of women’s coach in 1992.

Allice, 54, has coached 11 state championship teams in his 16 years at Long Beach, and his teams have won 14 of the 16 Southern California titles in that time.