Cal Poly Mustangs

Cal Poly Mustangs
University California Polytechnic State University
Conference Big West Conference
Big Sky Conference (football only)
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 21
Football stadium Alex G. Spanos Stadium (football, soccer), 11,075 capacity
Basketball arena Robert A. Mott Athletics Center
Baseball stadium Robin Baggett Stadium
Mascot Musty
Nickname Mustangs
Colors Forest Green, Vegas Gold, and Copper[1]
              
Website www.gopoly.com

The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing Cal Poly also known as California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field; women's-only indoor track, softball, and volleyball; and men's-only baseball, football, and wrestling. The Mustangs 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]

Teams

California Polytechnic State University sponsors teams in ten men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports:[5]

Baseball

Basketball

The Mustang men's basketball 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.

Cross country

The men's cross country team has finished in the top 25 in the nation four of the past five years. In 2012, Coach Mark Conover and his men's squad collected its second straight Big West Conference title and 12th in the past 15 seasons.[7] Their last national placing was in 2011, when they finished 28th at the National Cross Country Championships.[8] Also in 2012, the women’s program nabbed its first Big West Conference crown since 2001.[7]

Football

Mustang Football plays in the Big Sky Conference, competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Prior to joining the Big Sky Conference in 2012, the team competed in the Great West Conference and is 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.

Men's soccer

The Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer team has had success in recent years. In 2008, Coach Paul Holocher led his team to a 3rd place in the Big West and a spot in the NCAA Division I tournament. They went on to beat UCLA and ended up losing to UC Irvine in the 2nd round. Cal Poly soccer has a strong fan base, averaging over 3,000 fans per match in 2010.[9] In 2011, collegesoccernews.com chose Cal Poly vs. UC Santa Barbara as the No. 1 rivalry in college soccer.[10] Since 2007, the rivalry matches have regularly drawn upwards of 8,000 fans to watch the matches.[11]

Volleyball

The women's volleyball team has been one of the school's best sports programs in recent years and in the 1980s. In 2007 the team captured its second straight Big West title by posting a 15–1 conference record and a 23–8 record overall, and made it to the third round of the playoffs before losing to Stanford in the Sweet 16. The team also went 23–6 in 2006.

Wrestling

The wrestling program at Cal Poly competes as a member of the Pac-12 Conference (The Big West does not sponsor wrestling) which is traditionally one of the strongest conferences in college wrestling. Cal Poly has had two wrestlers (Tom Kline & Mark DiGirolamo) win the NCAA Wrestling Championship and 46 wrestlers earn All-American honors.[12] In addition to the program's success at the NCAA Championships the program has crowned one champion at the National Collegiate Open Wrestling Championship. On January 30, 2014 Cal Poly hosted Oregon State University in a very rare Outdoor wrestling match. The match took place in Cal Poly's University Union Plaza following the weekly UU hour. The only other known outdoor matches have been hosted by The Citadel Bulldogs, including one during the 2012-2013 season. The Arizona State Sun Devils also wrestled Arizona outdoors in the 1970s.[13]

The head coach of the Mustang Wrestling team is Brendan Buckley, currently in his 3rd season in the position. The team competes in the Mott Gym on campus opened back in 1960, seating over 3,000 people for home dual meets and tournaments.

Two former Mustang wrestlers after graduation went on to compete in mixed martial arts, more specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championships. The first is Chad Mendes who was a national runner up at 141 lb in 2008 currently competing for the UFC since 2011, also he challenged for UFC featherweight title in 2012. The other wrestler is Chuck Liddell who graduated in 1995 and is now a retired UFC Hall of Fame inductee being a former UFC Light heavyweight Champion and for his contribution to the sport of MMA in the UFC organization.

Prior to joining the Division I ranks, Cal Poly was dominant in Division II, winning seven consecutive Division II championships from 1968 to 1974.

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.[14][15] 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.[16][17][18] The players were subsequently suspended indefinitely from the team.[15][19]

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.[15][20] 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.[15] 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.[21] Oberhelman later stated that some of the players involved "... should not have been at Cal Poly."[21] He also stated that he had heard of illegal drug usage among members of the football team.[21] 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% to 60% of the student-athletes.[21] 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.[21][22][23][24][25][26] One of the student-athletes in the August 2014 event later accused head coach Tim Walsh in court of coercion to talk to the police without a lawyer present.[27]

In April 2015, a football student-athlete was arrested for driving under the influence, a felony, after crashing his car.[28][29] A number of the passengers in the car were also football student-athletes.[30] Previously in March 2011, a different Cal Poly football player was arrested for a DUI and ultimately chose to transfer out of the program.[31]

In 2014, Cal Poly went to court to cover up or remove mentions of Moriarty Enterprises from the scoreboard at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.[32] 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.[32][33] 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."[34] When bankruptcy trustees asked Cal Poly for the money to be returned to benefit Moriarty's creditors, Cal Poly declined.[34] 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.[35][36]

The Blue-Green rivalry

The main rival of the Cal Poly Mustangs are the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos who compete together in the Blue–Green Rivalry. The Blue-Green Rivalry, which started in November 1921 with a football game, was formalized in 2009. This new format calculates earned points between Cal Poly and UCSB to determine a winner based on their teams' competitive results against each other.[37] Additionally, collegesoccernews.com ranked UC Santa Barbara vs. Cal Poly as the Greatest Rivalry in College Soccer.[38]

References

  1. ↑ "Cal Poly Athletics Brand and Graphics Guidelines" (PDF). Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2001-08-10. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  3. ↑ "Big Sky Conference". Bigskyconf.com. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  4. ↑ http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mpsf/sports/c-swim/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/swm-program.pdf
  5. ↑ "Cal Poly". Gopoly.com. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  6. ↑ "NCAA DII, DIII membership approves Sand Volleyball as 90th championship". NCAA. January 17, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Cal Poly Sweeps Cross Country Championship". Retrieved 2012-12-16.
  8. ↑ http://www.ustfccca.org/assets/rankings/div1/2016-xc/DI_XC_Week-ByRank-ALLTIME.pdf
  9. ↑ NCAA Soccer, Men's Attendance Records, 2010 Attendance Leaders, http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2011/attend.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index_files/Page2764.htm
  11. ↑ NCAA Soccer, Men's Attendance Records, All-Time Largest Crowds, http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2011/attend.pdf
  12. ↑ "2012-13 Cal Poly Wrestling Prospectus" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  13. ↑ "Cal Poly Wrestling Will Host Oregon State Outdoors in January - Cal Poly". Gopoly.com. 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  14. ↑ Hickey, Julia (November 22, 2013). "Shooting near Cal Poly may be related to drug deal, police say". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Scroggin, Joshua D.; Fountain, Matt (August 12, 2014). "Cal Poly to investigate drug activity in football program, president says". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  16. ↑ Bromberg, Nick (August 23, 2014). "Five Cal Poly players charged with 23 felonies in alleged robbery". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  17. ↑ Owens, Caitlin (August 12, 2014). "Cal Poly football players allegedly rob frat house at gunpoint". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  18. ↑ Fountain, Matt (August 22, 2014). "Charges filed against Cal Poly football players accused of armed robbery". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  19. ↑ Mitchell, Houston (August 11, 2014). "5 Cal Poly football players arrested for allegedly robbing frat house". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  20. ↑ Scroggin, Joshua D.; Fountain, Matt (August 11, 2014). "Motive sought in attempted robbery allegedly involving Cal Poly football players". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Wilson, Nick (August 15, 2014). "Cal Poly did minimal drug testing of athletes because of costs". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  22. ↑ Becerra, Hector (April 24, 2013). "Ex-Raiders assistant coach Randy Hanson on trial for assault". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  23. ↑ Gleeson, Scott (August 25, 2012). "Former NFL coach arrested for smashing beer bottle on man". USA Today. Tysons Corner, Virginia. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Cal Poly coach suspended indefinitely". Santa Maria Times. Santa Maria, California. August 9, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  25. ↑ Wilson, Nick (August 21, 2012). "Ex-Cal Poly coach accused in bar fight is charged with two felonies". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  26. ↑ Lambert, Cynthia (April 29, 2013). "Ex-Raiders coach is found guilty in Pismo Beach beer-bottle attack". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  27. ↑ Pemberton, Patrick S. (August 13, 2015). "Cal Poly football player's rights were violated in robbery investigation, attorney says". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  28. ↑ "UPDATE: Cal Poly football player accused of felony DUI in crash that caused minor injuries". KSBY. April 19, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  29. ↑ Hickey, Julia (April 19, 2015). "Cal Poly football player allegedly crashes into parked car, injuring two". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  30. ↑ Horner, Leah; Egel, Benjy (April 20, 2015). "Cal Poly football player arrested for DUI". Mustang News. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  31. ↑ Scroggin, Joshua D. (March 30, 2011). "College Football: Cal Poly kicker could miss time for Mustangs". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  32. 1 2 Pemberton, Patrick S. (September 19, 2014). "Cal Poly can't cover up Al Moriarty's name on scoreboard, judge rules". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  33. ↑ Fountain, Matt (February 28, 2013). "The troubled times of Al Moriarty". New Times. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  34. 1 2 "Cal Poly SLO seeks to cover up felon name on stadium scoreboard". San Jose Mercury News. San Jose, California. September 1, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  35. ↑ Pemberton, Patrick S. (June 23, 2015). "Cal Poly gets OK to cover Al Moriarty's name on scoreboard, for now". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  36. ↑ "Cal Poly Announces Settlement Agreement Regarding Stadium Scoreboard Sign". California Polytechnic State University. August 19, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  37. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150316232818/http://www.bluegreenrivalry.com/landing/index. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  38. ↑ "The Fourteen Greatest Rivalries In College Soccer". http://www.collegesoccernews.com. Retrieved January 5, 2016. External link in |website= (help)
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