Bell
was a head coach at Oregon State (1958-65), California (1965-69) and
Indiana (1969-98). His 1961 cross-country team at Oregon State won the
N.C.A.A. championship. At Indiana, his men’s team won 22 Big Ten titles
in indoor and outdoor track and cross-country; his women’s team there
won four titles.
He
had wide success coaching milers and half-milers. Berny Wagner, who
succeeded him at Oregon State, told Track and Field News in 1991, “Sam’s
very intense, and middle-distance runners have to be intense.”
