A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Cal Poly Mustangs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | California Polytechnic State University |
| Conference | Big West Conference (primary) Big Sky Conference (football) Pac-12 Conference (wrestling) Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (swimming and diving) |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletic director | Don Oberhelman |
| Location | San Luis Obispo, California |
| Varsity teams | 22 (11 men's, 11 women's) |
| Football stadium | Alex G. Spanos Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Robert A. Mott Athletics Center |
| Baseball stadium | Robin Baggett Stadium |
| Softball stadium | Bob Janssen Field |
| Soccer stadium | Alex G. Spanos Stadium |
| Other venues | Anderson Aquatic Center Miller and Capriotti Athletics Complex Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex Mustang Tennis Complex |
| Mascot | Musty |
| Nickname | Mustangs |
| Marching band | Pride of the Pacific |
| Fight song | Ride High, You Mustangs |
| Colors | Poly green, copper gold, and stadium gold[1] |
| Website | www |
The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-two teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big West Conference,[2] but the football team plays in the Big Sky Conference,[3] the wrestling team is an associate member of the Pac-12 Conference, and the swimming and diving program competes as an affiliate member in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.[4]
Nickname
The Cal Poly official team nickname is the "Mustangs."[5] The nickname was chosen in a 1925 vote by the students. The two finalists were "Mustangs" and "Mules" and the students chose "Mustangs."[5]
History
Cal Poly athletic history
Early athletic program history
The Cal Poly Mustangs athletic department's first sports team was fielded in 1907 as the men's basketball team played their first game. The university was not yet a four-year institution, but the school sponsored sports.[6]
Student referendum and move to NCAA Division I
Cal Poly put a referendum vote to its student body on Nov. 20–21, 1991. The referendum passed, with students voting to elevate all 16 NCAA sports teams at the time (since increased to 21 intercollegiate teams in the years to follow) from Division II of the NCAA to Division I by the 1994–95 school year, passed by 267 votes[7] in the largest voter turnout in school history,[8][9] featuring 10,369 total votes cast, with 5,318 (or 51.2 percent) passing the measure.[10] This move would be accommodated by the student body individually paying a total of $35 more per quarter by 1994 (steadily going in increments from the incumbent $8 Athletics fee at the time to $43 per quarter by 1994).[11][12]
Afterward, the NCAA officially certified Cal Poly as a Division I-AA football school on August 9, 1993. Its first year of playing at the Division I level in all sports (volleyball and wrestling were already Division I, being the two exceptions) was 1994–95.
Conference alignment
Announced October 14, 1994,[13] Cal Poly joined the Big West Conference for a majority of its sports programs,[14] from the American West Conference. The 1996–97 school year then marked Cal Poly's first season competing in the Big West.[15]
Cal Poly was accepted into the Big Sky Conference as an affiliate member for football on September 7, 2010.[16] The Mustangs' first-ever Big Sky game was played on September 22, 2012, a 28–20 home win over UC Davis.[17]
Adidas partnership
On May 25, 2017, Cal Poly announced an exclusive partnership with adidas. The partnership beginning in June 2017 would provide official footwear, apparel and various equipment items.[18]
Academic progress rate public recognition awards
In May 2019, Cal Poly received a department-record seven Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for Academic Progress Rate performance for the 2017–18 academic year.[19] The seven awards included six from Big West Conference teams in the department, the most throughout the Big West (edging UC Davis by one award).[20] The Mustangs collected four NCAA APR awards for the 2018–19 year, again leading the BWC.[21]
Philanthropic endeavors
From 2007 through 2019, the Cal Poly softball program raised over $21,900 for the Hearst Cancer Resource Center with its annual StrikeOut Cancer Challenge event.[22]
From 2012 to 2019, Cal Poly student-athletes raised $11,179 through the Big West Conference's annual February Coin Drive, with previous causes also including the Jessie Rees Foundation and CURE International.[23] In 2019, Cal Poly student-athletes raised more than $3,300 for Hearst Cancer Resource Center at nearby French Hospital as part of the 12th annual February Coin Drive.[24] The total was the most Cal Poly has raised in a single year and ranked second among the conference's nine universities for 2019.[25]
Starting in December 2015, Cal Poly student-athletes have been actively involved with the Salvation Army's Adopt-an-Angel program,[26] purchasing toys, clothing and gift cards while collecting donations to benefit local families in the San Luis Obispo area. In 2017, Mustang student-athletes adopted 50 children from 24 families,[27] an increase of three sponsored children from the 2016 season.[28] The December 2018 drive saw Cal Poly student-athletes adopt 32 children for the program.[29]
Controversies
NCAA infractions
In 1987 while competing as an NCAA Division II school, the National Collegiate Athletic Association found the athletic department guilty of infractions relating to the men's basketball program.[30] During the course of the investigation, then head coach Ernie Wheeler resigned from his position and was later publicly reprimanded.[30]
As the department was transitioning from Division II to NCAA Division I in 1994, the department self-reported violations related to the baseball program.[31] Cal Poly identified head coach Steve McFarland as having given improper financial aid to both players and members of his coaching staff.[31] In 1995, the NCAA accepted Cal Poly's self-imposed penalties which included forfeiture of their NCAA Division II baseball championship and other top finishes and a postseason ban.[32]
In April 2019, the athletic department was placed on probation for multiple years and was forced to vacate regular season championships and conference tournament records by the NCAA.[33] The NCAA reported years worth of infractions involving 265 athletes across 18 sports.[34] Additionally, the school must now inform all recruits about the department's infractions prior to official visits.[33] In deciding on the severity of punishment, the NCAA noted Cal Poly's two earlier infractions from 1987 and 1995.[35] The athletic department appealed, but the decision was upheld in February 2020.[36]
Other athletic department controversies
In November 2013, a student assistant coach who previously played for the Cal Poly Mustangs football team was shot in a drug deal.[37][38] The following year in August 2014, further problems beset the football team when 5 current Cal Poly student-athletes were arrested and charged with a total of 23 felonies which made national headlines.[39][40][41] The players were subsequently suspended indefinitely from the team.[38][42]
California Polytechnic State University president, Jeffrey Armstrong, stated that the August 2014 event "bears striking commonalities" with the November 2013 event, which was also noted by San Luis Obispo Police Department Chief Steve Gesell as having "disturbing" similarities.[38][43] Armstrong, with athletic director, Don Oberhelman, launched an investigation into the football team's potential further involvement with illegal drugs and criminal activity and rolled out a new drug policy for the athletics department.[38] It was reported by The Tribune that cost was a factor cited by Cal Poly when testing just 41 of its 540 student-athletes for banned substances within the last year.[44] Oberhelman later stated that some of the players involved "... should not have been at Cal Poly."[44] He also stated that he had heard of illegal drug usage among members of the football team.[44] According to current and former players who spoke with The Tribune confidentially, the consensus was that illegal drug usage at the football program was widespread, with estimates ranging between 40% and 60% of the student-athletes.[44] Athletic director Oberhelman kept faith in head coach Tim Walsh and his coaching staff despite Randy Hanson, a former coach brought on by Walsh, had multiple felony charges brought upon him just a few years earlier.[44][45][46][47][48][49] One of the student-athletes' lawyers in the August 2014 event later accused head coach Tim Walsh in court of coercion to talk to the police without a lawyer present.[50]
In 2014, Cal Poly went to court to cover up or remove mentions of Moriarty Enterprises from the scoreboard at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.[51] Al Moriarty, a former Cal Poly football player who was inducted to the Cal Poly Hall of Fame in 2002, purchased naming rights to the scoreboard in 2009 for a total of $625,000.[51][52] He was convicted of running a ponzi scheme and Cal Poly argued that they were "...suffering harm by having the name 'Moriarty Enterprises' remain on the scoreboard."[53] When bankruptcy trustees asked Cal Poly for the money to be returned to benefit Moriarty's creditors, Cal Poly declined.[53] After nearly a year in court, an agreement was reached wherein Cal Poly repaid $480,000 of the original donation to remove mentions of Moriarty, leaving the school with a $145,000 profit from the original sponsorship.[54][55]
In April 2015, a football student-athlete was arrested for driving under the influence, a felony, after crashing his car.[56][57] A number of the passengers in the car were also football student-athletes.[58] Previously in March 2011, a different Cal Poly football player was arrested for a DUI and ultimately chose to transfer out of the program.[59]
Sports sponsored
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Beach volleyball |
| Cross country | Cross country |
| Football | Golf |
| Golf | Soccer |
| Soccer | Softball |
| Swimming and diving | Swimming and diving |
| Tennis | Tennis |
| Track and field† | Track and field† |
| Wrestling | Volleyball |
| † – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor | |
Baseball
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The Cal Poly Mustangs baseball program first fielded a team in 1948.[60]
Men's basketball
The Cal Poly Mustangs men's basketball team's first season was 1907 and its first season as a four-year institution was in 1941–42.[6][61] The team had its most successful year in 2014, when the team won the Big West Tournament, clinching its first NCAA basketball tournament bid in school history at the Division I level.
Women's basketball
The Cal Poly Mustangs women's basketball team's first season was the 1974–75 season.[62]
Women's beach volleyball
Cal Poly beach volleyball was founded in July 2013. It became the university's 21st NCAA sport.[63] In February 2016, Cal Poly hired Todd Rogers, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the sport, as its new head coach.[64]
The Mustangs had arguably their most successful season in the spring of 2019, winning the Big West Conference Championship over Hawai'i, 3–2 in Malibu, California.[65] Following the title, Cal Poly advanced to the eight-team NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship,[66] losing to Florida State in the opening match before dropping a rematch against Hawai'i on ESPN.[67][68] Cal Poly also qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2021 and 2022.
Men's and women's cross country
In 2019, coach Mark Conover and his men's squad collected their fourth straight Big West Conference title[69] and the men's team's 17th crown in a 22-year span.[70] Their last national placing as a team was in 2011, when they finished 28th at the National Cross Country Championships.[71] In 2018, the women's program, coached by Priscilla Bayley, captured its third Big West Conference crown in a four-year stretch.[72]
The men's cross country team has appeared in the NCAA Division I Championships as a full squad seven times, with their highest finish being 10th place in the 2004–05 school year.[73] The Cal Poly women's cross country team hasn't made the NCAA Division I Championships as a full team, but in 2018 advanced both Miranda Daschian and Katie Izzo as individuals to the NCAA National Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.[74] Peyton Bilo was the program's most recent All-American, taking 23rd place at the 2016 national championships as a sophomore.[75] Conover, the 1988 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion,[76] passed in April 2022 following a battle with cancer.[77]
On June 20, 2022, Ryan Vanhoy, previously coaching at Ole Miss, was appointed to lead Cal Poly's program as track and field and cross country director.[78]
Team USA members
- Cal Poly alumnus Phillip Reid represented Team USA at the Great Edinburgh International Run in Scotland in 2012–13[79] and at the North America/Central America/Caribbean Championships in Jamaica in 2013.[80]
| Year | Gender | Ranking | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Men | No. 29 | 607 |
| 2003 | Men | No. 13 | 401 |
| 2004 | Men | No. 10 | 333 |
| 2006 | Men | No. 13 | 441 |
| 2007 | Men | No. 11 | 367 |
| 2008 | Men | No. 23 | 513 |
| 2011 | Men | No. 28 | 680 |
Football
Mustang Football plays in the Big Sky Conference, competing in the NCAA Division I FCS. Prior to joining the Big Sky Conference in 2012, the team competed in the Great West Conference and was the first Great West Football Conference participant in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Each year Cal Poly plays rival UC Davis in the annual Battle for the Golden Horseshoe.
The Cal Poly Mustangs have an NCAA Division I FCS Tournament record of 1–4 through four appearances:[81]
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