By Davis Ramage
After 37 years with the program, former Long Beach State head coach and now director of track and field Andy Sythe has decided that his race is run and is retiring from the sport.
In a profession as demanding as coaching athletics, coaches often sacrifice time with their families to ensure that their program and athletes are performing at the highest level.
Sythe’s story is no different.
He looks forward to stepping up for his wife, who he says has covered for him at home for years, and spending more time with his high school and college-aged daughters.
37 years is a long time to be doing one thing, and Sythe could not choose just one moment that stuck out from the rest during his career, so he chose three:
- The men’s team winning their fourth Big West championship in a row in 2016 in Long Beach
- The women’s team winning their first Big West championship in 2018
- The men’s team starting the run of four championships in a row with their win at the Big West championship at UC Davis in 2013
It all started for Sythe in 1988 when he was hired as an assistant, under then-head coach Ralph Lindeman. It only took him one year to become head coach when in 1989, at 23 years old, he became the youngest NCAA Division I coach in the United States.
According to Sythe, educating was always in his blood, as his mother and grandmother were both teachers and his father was a physical education teacher for a stint as well.
“Educating people and the rewards that come with that, the successes, the achievements, those are what got me into [coaching],” Sythe said.
When Sythe took over the program, LBSU track and field experienced a major shift, which is supported by the record books.
One statistic stands out the most among the accolades: LBSU currently has 34 indoor track and field records, 33 of which were set by athletes coached by Sythe.
LBSU Director of Track & Field Andy Sythe is retiring from the sport, but has left a large legacy on countless athletes, as well as LBSU as a whole. He played a major role in the construction of its state of the art track & field facility. Photo credit: LBSU Athletics
Not only has Sythe impacted the program’s records, but he has also made an everlasting imprint on LBSU’s track and field facility.
In 2006, LBSU’s track and field facility was deemed unusable due to safety concerns, as the condition of the track was not up to par for competition.
10 years later, the Jack Rose Track, one of the premier track and field facilities in the nation, was born as a result of Sythe’s vision for a top-tier facility and the Beach Pride Referendum, which was started by then-track athlete Wayne Stickney-Smith.
Taking over as head coach is Sythe’s college teammate at San Diego State University, LaTanya Sheffield.
Sheffield, who is now in her 13th season as a coach for LBSU and her third as the head men’s and women’s track coach, was the head women’s coach for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics where her team took home seven gold, five silver and five bronze medals.
She was retired until Sythe sought her out in 2011. Sheffield, living in Arizona at the time, decided to come to The Beach after her youngest daughter graduated high school.
“She has that personality, she has that charisma, she has that leadership ability, that motivational ability and also has experience and know-how in the profession to understand what it takes to perform at a high level,” Sythe said.
Aside from all the accolades and impact on the program as a whole, what Sythe holds most dearly is the academic success in his tenure.
Under Sythe’s supervision, 603 athletes have been named to Academic All-Conference teams.
“Whether it’s a legacy, you can decide that for yourself, but if it’s the thing that I really look to as the thing I am the most proud of, those are the things,” he said.
In the final months of his career, Sythe only has one wish; to see as many faces as he can from all the players that have been through this program, and specifically, for them to cheer the team on at their conference championship at the Jack Rose Track on May 9- May 17.
