Past national champion track coach Frye retires after 27 years at South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — National championship and Olympic coach Curtis Frye is retiring after 27 seasons at South Carolina.

The school announced Frye's decision Thursday. He'll step away at the end of the month.

“It's the end of era,” Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner said in a statement.

And it was a very successful era for South Carolina, as Frye brought the school its first-ever team championship when the Gamecocks won the women's outdoor NCAA track and field title in 2002.

Frye was named to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December 2013. He's a three-time winner of the United States Track Coaches Association national coach of the year award and earned Nike Coach of the Year in 2001.

Frye coached standout athletes like two-time Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings and two-time silver medalist in hurdler Terrence Trammell.

Frye served as an assistant on the United States Olympic track team at Athens in 2004.

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