Quincy Watts - Track & Field Coach

Quincy Watts — USC Trojans Track & Field

Photo by: John McGillen

Quincy Watts

Title:
Assistant Coach, Sprints
Email:
qwatts@usc.edu

Former Trojan Olympic great Quincy Watts is in his fifth season at USC as an assistant coach of the sprints. In his first four seasons he has helped guide Trojans to 43 indoor and outdoor All-America honors in the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relays. His Trojan athletes have also claimed 11 Pac-12 titles, set 17 school records, all four USC freshman 400m records and the women’s 400m hurdles freshman record.

Last season, Watts guided Kendall Ellis to USC records in the women’s indoor (51.52) and outdoor (50.00) 400m race, a second-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a third-place finish at the Outdoor Championships. Cameron Pettigrew also reached the women’s final and Michael Norman also became a 400m All-American on the men’s side. Norman also set the USC freshman record with a time of 44.60. Both Norman and Ellis also won Pac-12 400m titles. Watts again had great success with the relays with the women’s 4x400m relay winning the indoor title and placing second outdoors, while setting the indoor collegiate record (3:27.03) and running the second-fastest time ever outdoors (3:23.35). The men’s team set the school indoor record and ran its fastest outdoor time since 2012. Ellis also qualified during the summer to represent the USA in the 400m at the World Championships. Watts also works with the 400m hurdlers and Anna Cockrell and Amalie Iuel placing second and third respectively at the NCAA Championships and Cockrell setting the Trojan freshman record with a time of 55.14 at the USC T&F Championships.

In 2016, Ricky Morgan garnered 400m All-America honors and Jaide Stepter set the then school indoor and outdoor 400m records. The USC women's relays both set school records. Stepter also was a 400m hurdles All-American, won her third consecutive conference hurdles record and tied the school record with a time of 54.95 at the USA T&F Championships.

In 2015 he coached Vanessa Jones to the Pac-12 women's 400m title and Ellis to the USC women's freshman outdoor 400m record and Morgan to the men's freshman indoor record. All three runners advanced to the NCAA semifinals in the event. At the time, Jones ran the second-fastest 400m time ever by a USC woman of 51.50 to win the conference title. Ellis' freshman record of 52.32 was set in winning the 400m at the USATF Juniors. He also guided the talented quartet of Stepter, Amalie Iuel, Ellis and Jones which won the Pac-12 title, earned a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships and set both the USC indoor and outdoor 4x400m records. Iuel and Stepter were All-Americans in the 400m hurdles and Stepter won the Pac-12 title in the event.

In his first season back home at USC, Watts helped guide the men's and women's sprinters post some impressive marks. His work with the 400m runners was especially impressive as Akawkaw Ndipagbor won the MPSF indoor 400m title and then earned indoor All-America honors and set the school indoor record. Three USC women and one male scored at the Pac-12 Championships in the 400m dash. Stepter won her first Pac-12 400m hurdles title.

Watts spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as an assistant coach at CS Northridge, primarily working with the distance runners. Prior to that, Watts was an assistant coach at Harvard-Westlake High School which he helped develop into one of the strongest distances programs in the country. Watts began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Taft High, where he went to high school.

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 which stood for 25 years. Watts also ran the anchor leg on the 4x400m relay team which set the school record of 3:00.58 and placed second. The year before he finished second in the 400m at the 1991 NCAA Championships. Watts also was a wide receiver on USC football team in 1990. Watts was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.

Watts was a two-time gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He twice broke Lee Evans' Olympic record in winning the 400 meters. Watts ran 43.71 in the semifinal before clocking a time of 43.50 in the final (which still stands as the USC record). He then teamed with Andrew Valmon, Michael Johnson and Steve Lewis to win the gold in the 4x400 meter relay in a then-world record time of 2:55.74. Watts ran the second leg in a blistering 43.10 which is among the fastest in the world. He also earned a gold medal in the 4x400 relay at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany which still is the world record and a silver medal at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

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 medal in 1991 and a gold medal in 1993 (in world record time).

A native of Detroit, Mich., Watts prepped at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif. before attending USC.