The USC men’s track and field team has created history. Amidst all the odds, they won the title on the final day of the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Competing in the Virginia Beach Sports Center the USC men’s team secured a thumping victory. This victory marked the 3rd NCAA Indoor team title in program history. This was also a historic feat as the team had not won a championship after the 1972 season. Surely, victory tasted sweet for USC after 53 long years of wait. And considering the circumstances, the head coach of the team could not help but feel emotional about the achievement.
Watts said about the win, “It’s just been a culmination of what we’ve been going through all season. And we’ve been talking about adversity with these young student-athletes. They did an awesome job just being able to function with adversity.” Next up, he also pointed out how the LA wildfires caused havoc. It also led to several student-athletes losing their near and dear ones. However, despite having to tend to their families for all the rituals and funerals, the athletes always returned for their love of the sport. Moreover, despite putting up quite a sublime performance, USC had to face protests from Arkansas. Owing to their demand of rerunning the relays, the celebrations of the USC were delayed significantly. And since they have been through so much for the entire year, Watts opined that the celebrations getting delayed by a tad bit never mattered.
In fact, it only added to the triumph tasting even sweeter. “And I’m just so proud of them. I’m just so proud of them. It’s a little bit long to wait for, but it’s sweet. I’m just so excited for USC, the community, my AD, Jim Cohen, our president, Dr. Foe, my sports administrator, and then Lindsay, and then all the support staff,” Watts could not help but pour out all of his gratitude towards the ones who supported him through thick and thin. Watts concluded by saying that at the end of the day, USC was a bunch of student-athletes and coaches, who have an iron-clad mentality.
This year’s @USC_Track_Field squad has had to overcome adversity on and off the track. Head coach Quincy Watts says that’s what pushed them to a men’s team title and a 3rd-place finish for the women.
More from Coach Watts + his thoughts on the bizarre 4x400m protest situation… pic.twitter.com/6lt9tKwF1f
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) March 16, 2025
They are not afraid of pushing through every adversity and coming out on the winning side every time. And surely, this is exactly what they did. On two separate occasions, the USC’s campaign threatened to get derailed by huge protests.
USC’s relay controversies sparked drama at Big Ten and NCAA Championships before securing win
USC’s men’s track and field team found itself at the center of back-to-back relay controversies. Not just on one occasion, but at both the Big Ten and NCAA Indoor Championships. Their protests from Purdue and Arkansas cast shadows over the Trojans’ performances.
At the Big Ten Indoor Championships on March 1, USC initially appeared to have secured the team title by finishing second in the 4×400-meter relay. However, Purdue quickly filed a protest, alleging that USC had impeded one of their runners during the third leg of the race.
The officials upheld the protest, disqualifying USC and stripping them of critical points. A decision that dropped the Trojans to second place overall behind Oregon. “It was a really odd situation, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before where the winner of an event protested it,” said Ashley Tysiac from FloTrack referring to the issue. Two weeks later, controversy struck yet again!
Two weeks later, controversy struck yet again! This time at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Arkansas lodged a protest after the 4×400-meter relay, arguing that they should be allowed to rerun the race alone on the track. The protest resulted in a delay of over an hour while officials deliberated. Ultimately, USC’s result was upheld, securing the team title.
Despite the drama, USC showed resilience on the track. But the back-to-back relay protests underscored the high-stakes nature of championship competition. And that eventually proved that the Trojans’ rise to prominence in the Big Ten and beyond is already stirring tension.
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