Scott Set to Go Extra Mile in His New Role as Coach

Marcus Chandler, a gangly, loose-limbed freshman runner for Cal State San Marcos, still has braces on his teeth and the wide-eyed enthusiasm that a rookie has for everything new, even the taking of physicals. Chandler, from Serra High, was the winner of the 1998 California state high school championship in the mile and he is here at San Marcos for one very good reason.

“It’s Coach Scott,” Chandler says, swinging his arms and hopping up and down on his tiptoes. “Coach Scott doesn’t want the record any more. He’s tired of it. He says he’d like to coach me to get it.”

Coach Scott is Steve Scott, 43 years old, father of three, survivor of testicular cancer, qualifier for three U.S. Olympic teams and still, much to his dismay, owner of the U.S. record for the mile run.

Saturday Scott coached his first collegiate team at the UCI/Asics Invitational cross-country meet in Huntington Beach. Scott was a star runner in the 1970s at UC Irvine and so it is with great pride that Scott chose to inaugurate his coaching career at a meet hosted by his alma mater. “It’s kind of neat,” Scott says. “It’s a great way to start this new career.”

This new career, as a college coach, has filled a hole in his soul, Scott says. Ever since the 1992 U.S. Olympic trials, when, for the first time since 1976 Scott didn’t make the Olympic team, Scott has been searching for a career.

Until 1992, Scott had made, in his words, “an excellent living” from running. He was a U.S. Olympian in 1980, 1984 and 1988 (the 1980 team boycotted the Moscow Games). At the 1984 Los Angeles Games Scott, who grew up in Upland, finished 10th in the 1,500-meter run and in 1988 in Seoul he finished fifth.

And in 1983, besides finishing second in the 1,500-meter run at the World Championships, Scott also set the U.S. mile record that still stands. In a meet in Oslo, Norway, and aiming to break Sebastien Coe’s world record, which, at the time was 3 minutes 47.33 seconds, Scott finished an eye-blink too slow. His time of 3:47.69, was, though, a new American record. “But frankly,” Scott says, “I was a little disappointed. I had wanted the world record.”

Four years earlier Scott had taken the U.S. record from Jim Ryun. Never did Scott figure to be a middle-aged rookie college track and cross-country coach and be able to use, as a recruiting pitch, that he is still the record-holder.

“No, it’s not a good thing,” Scott says. “It’s not something I’d be sad to lose.”

Life after running hadn’t been filled with any record-setting moments. Scott struggled to find a career he liked. He worked as a consultant for an events-management corporation. He sunk a substantial amount of money into an ill-fated car wash venture. By 1994 Scott’s marriage was in trouble, his finances were a disaster and he was diagnosed with cancer.

“I’m convinced,” Scott says, “that the cancer was stress-related. I was struggling to find something to do with my life.” When he was at Irvine Scott had majored in criminal justice. “I was going to go into the FBI,” Scott says, laughing.

Always Scott had thought about college coaching. But he didn’t want to leave San Diego, where his children were living with their mother from whom Scott did get divorced. A year ago Scott was introduced to a man who was donating money to build a new track at San Marcos, which is in north San Diego county near Escondido.

The college is 10 years old and its only sports are golf and the fledgling track and cross-country program. Scott went running with the San Marcos track benefactor and expressed interest in becoming the coach. A couple of weeks later, Scott had the job.

It is an NAIA program with a little scholarship money to offer, not a lot, and a combined budget for men’s and women’s track and cross-country of about $34,000.

With those minuscule resources, how was it, Chandler was asked, he ended up at San Marcos. After all, track powers such as Arkansas, Arizona and Wichita State were recruiting California’s top high school miler. “It was Coach Scott,” Chandler says. “He believes in me. He told my mother what his college coach had told his mother. He told her I have what it takes to break the U.S. mile record.”

Scott’s college coach was Len Miller, who lives in Santa Barbara. Scott’s mentor now, as well as his coach for the master’s races that Scott runs, is Irv Ray who, is also the track coach at Cal Baptist in Riverside. Why no U.S. miler has come along to take his record, Scott isn’t sure.

He says a lot of potential middle-distance runners are out playing soccer. “Those kids that can cover the field running in soccer, they’d be perfect [middle-distance] runners.” Otherwise, Scott has no answers.

His intention in getting into coaching, though, is not to save the sport. Scott’s main goal isn’t to make a miler as famous as Ryun was. What Scott wants, he says, “is to make a difference in kids’ lives. I think I can reach kids. I know I can teach them about track. I’ve finally found what I’m meant for. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this.”

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Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com.