Mar 23, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans coach Ron Allice at the 2013 Trojan Invitational at Cromwell Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Ron Allice ended his coaching career on Saturday after 50+ years in the sport, including the past 18 years as head coach at the University of Southern California. His last NCAA meet was a pretty darn good one with his two star seniors Bryshon Nellum and Reggie Wyatt both taking home their first national titles. The Trojans finished fifth in the team standings, a strong performance for a team that only sent five men to Eugene this past weekend.

But after finishing just 11 points behind co-champions Texas A&M and Florida, one has to wonder about how USC would have fared if the cookie had crumbled differently.

The Trojans  left points on the table when they suffered the loss of sophomore sprinter Beejay Lee, the Pac-12 100 meter champion, failed to qualify out of regionals due to an injury. The rapidly improving Lee was tied for fourth with teammate Aaron Brown on the national list and was a favorite to make the NCAA final prior to getting hurt.

Even a bigger contributor to USC’s title hopes could have been Josh Mance. The Olympic 4×400 relay silver medalist silver medalist transferred to Florida State this past December after a falling out with the coaching staff at Southern Cal. Mance’s short stint in Tallahassee was tumultuous one as he was suspended from the team after allegations of involvement in a gunfire case. Mance was later cleared of all charges, but the suspension lead to him forgoing his collegiate eligibility to sign a professional contract to run for Nike.

Mance’s season best is 45.08 from the Oxy Invitational, slower than his personal best of 44.83 from the 2012 NCAA meet. The time would have placed fifth in Friday’s 400 meter final. Although I’m confident Mance would have finished higher in such a competitive race, we’ll conservatively add four points to the Trojans’ column.

Mance’s departure also forfeited any 4×400 hopes USC had. With him in the lineup, the Trojans would have fielded a formidable squad consisting of Mance, 400 meter hurdles champion Wyatt and 400 meter individual champion Nellum. Even without a strong fourth man, USC surely would have been in the mix with the Florida’s and Arkansas’s of the world. The extra toll of running relays may have negatively impacted individual performances for Nellum and Wyatt, but in this purely hypothetical exercise, I’ve taken the liberty to hypothetically say they wouldn’t have been harmed too much.

Add three points for Lee in the 100, four for Mance in the 400 and six in the 4×400, and the Trojans win the national title by two points over A&M and Florida.

Coach Allice will already retire as a legend of the NCAA coaching ranks but going out on top could have made that departure even sweeter. Oh, the possibilities.

Follow @RunLiao

The NCAA is instituting a new policy for qualifying to its indoor national championships. Rather than the old procedure where an automatic qualifying mark did just that – qualify the athlete for nationals – meet officials have opted for a new system where the 16 top marks in each event go to NCAA’s.

As a result, a miler who just squeaks under the auto standard at an early season meet – say this weekend’s UW Indoor Preview – won’t be able to rest on their laurels until nationals in March. Instead, they’ll have to pray they remain in the top 16 by the end of last chance weekend or race more frequently in hopes of improving their mark.

The new top 16 system makes the urgency to sharpen up for indoor races even greater by forcing athletes and coaches emphasize running fast in relation to the competition. To do that, they’ll likely run more sharpening workouts than they normally would this time of year to be ready for big indoor meets like the Husky Classic and Meyo Invitational.

These factors generally lead to poorer performances outdoors. The hectic collegiate racing season makes it nearly impossible to be at peak condition in both March and June while also requiring athletes to race most weekends in between the championships. We’ve seen time after time athletes who do well in a particular indoor season don’t necessarily translate that success outdoors. Lawi Lalang in 2012 is a prime example.

What’s the solution?

Get rid of the NCAA Indoor Championships.

I know it sounds crazy. Maybe it’s because I’m a Californian who’s never run an indoor race. Maybe I’m tired of seeing people flame out by outdoor NCAA’s because they’ve been racing hard since January.

I’m not advocating for the complete abolition of indoor track. Indoor meets, particularly conference championships, can still go on but will serve the purpose of breaking up the grind of winter training, much like it does for professional athletes.

But when athletes and coaches always claim the ultimate focus is on June, why conduct a meaningless championship meet when everyone admits the bigger prize lies three months away?

Follow @RunLiao

Sources tell Spiked Up, Psyched Up that Mance decided to part ways with the university after a falling out with the Trojan coaching staff.

According to the blog Inside USC, Florida State is a likely destination for the junior.

With the departure of Mance, USC loses a key piece to its 4×400 relay core that includes quarter-mile Olympian Bryshon Nellum, who was granted a sixth year of collegiate eligibility for the 2013 season, and 400 meter hurdle standout Reggie Wyatt.

Mance earned his first Olympic team berth with a fourth place finish in the 400 meters at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

In London, the Pomona, Calif. native split 44.6 seconds for the second leg of the 4×400 preliminary heats and earned a silver medal on the basis of the United States’ second place finish in the final.

Follow @RunLiao