Hall of Fame
From the cross country/track & field programs’ inception in 1999 until his retirement in 2018, Steve Scott helped our women’s cross country program win three consecutive NAIA National Championships, was a three-time NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, was an 11-time A.I.I. Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and coached a combined 137 NAIA and Division II All-Americans in cross country and track & field.
Before his coaching days, Steve was a student-athlete himself at UC Irvine, winning the NCAA Division II 1500-meter championship in three consecutive seasons from 1975 through 1977. As a professional, he won the 1,500-meter Olympic trials in 1980, but the United States boycotted the games later that year in Moscow due to the Cold War tensions. In 1981, he set the American record for the mile (3:48.68) and the 1,500 meters (3:31.96). He bettered his mile record to 3:47.69 the following year, setting a mark that stood for over 25 years. Scott won the silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Outdoor Championships in 1983 and competed in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.
Over the course of his career, Scott was the national outdoor 1,500-meter champion six times. He has run the mile in under four minutes a world-record 136 times. For his feats in his signature event, Scott earned the moniker, "The Miler". Following his competitive running career, Scott started coaching as an assistant at Azusa Pacific University in 1993 and later joined CSUSM in 1999.
In 2002, Steve was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
