Bush ‘Ends an Era,’ Resigns as USC Track Coach

Jim Bush, who coached the track teams at both UCLA and USC, has resigned after four years at USC, the school said Friday.

Bush, 67, helped revive the program at USC, coaching the Trojan men to a third-place finish in the NCAA meet in 1992 and a 10th-place finish this year.

Four of his athletes won NCAA individual championships.

But Bush, who also was coach of the Trojans’ women’s team in 1991 and 1992, was absent for about three weeks of practice last season after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer in February.

A month later, he told a reporter, “I’m either going to die here or they are going to have to fire me,” but privately he told school officials that he planned to coach only one more season, a source said.

He apparently changed his mind after Ron Allice became director of USC’s recently consolidated men’s and women’s track program in June.

“We asked Jim to coach one more year, but on his own volition, he decided to resign,” Athletic Director Mike Garrett said in a statement. “We’re sorry to see him go. He was such a great ambassador for track. It’s the end of an era. He did a lot for us at USC and helped revive our program.”

But Bush, who was unavailable for comment, enjoyed his greatest success at UCLA, where he coached from 1965-84. His Bruin teams won five NCAA titles and finished second three times. They were 152-21 in dual meets.

The USC men’s team had a 15-11 dual-meet record under Bush; the women were 4-4-1.

Bush, a 1987 inductee into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, ranks as one of the sport’s most successful coaches. His athletes included 36 NCAA outdoor champions and 20 Olympians.

A 1951 graduate of California, Bush started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Cal’s football team.

He later was an assistant track coach at Berkeley High and head track coach at Fullerton High, Fullerton College and Occidental.