Cal Poly football opens spring practice, Mustangs begin new era aiming to return program to prominence

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The Cal Poly football team officially opened a new era on Tuesday with its first practice under recently hired head coach Paul Wulff.

The three-hour long practice at Doerr Family Field marked the opening of the four-week long 15-session spring camp.

"It went well," said Wulff. "It was the first day and a lot of times, the first day, there is a lot of jitters and a lot of anticipation for the guys to come out and play. They haven't been playing obviously for several months, but overall, it was very good and we'll just keep building from here."

The team will conclude camp with the annual Spring Game on Saturday, April 29, at noon inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

For the Mustangs, the first practice is just the first step in what the university and its fans are hoping will be a big turnaround for the program.

"I think it's definitely a stepping stone," said junior linebacker David Meyer, who led the team in tackles last season. "We have a lot of work to do, but we definitely have the guys around in each position group. We just have to put it all together and I really believe that we have the talent."

The past three seasons under former head coach Beau Baldwin produced only four wins in 25 games, including a 2-17 record in Big Sky Conference games.

Cal Poly has not finished with a winning record since 2016 when the Mustangs wrapped up the season under former head coach Tim Walsh at 7-5.

Since qualifying for the FCS playoffs in 2016, the Mustangs have compiled a record of just 13-45.

With Wulff now in charge, Cal Poly is looking to re-establish the program back to its winning ways, similar to the success the Mustangs enjoyed in the early 2000's under head coach Rich Ellerson.

From 2001 through 2008, the Mustangs finished with a winning record seven times in eight years and were regularly ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Top 25 polls.

Wulff, who served as Cal Poly's offensive line coach and running game coordinator the past three years, brings plenty of head coaching experience to the job.

He was the head coach at Washington State for three seasons and eight seasons prior at Eastern Washington, where he qualified for the FCS playoffs three times.

Hired on Dec. 6, 2022 to succeed Baldwin, who departed to become offensive coordinator at Arizona State, Wulff has been hard at work the past four months, dramatically reshaping the Mustangs roster.

"It's fun just bringing all the young men back that we've had in the program and to see how much they've improved and grown, and then, adding new players to the program to give it a whole nother level for performance that we believe is going show up this fall," said Wulff. "There is a lot of good things to be excited about, but there's a lot of work to be done. We know we're a much better football team and program right now. We're not a finished product, but we're definitely heading in a really good direction."

According to the Cal Poly sports information office, on the field Tuesday were five transfers from Division I schools, two high school graduates who enrolled at Cal Poly for the spring quarter and three new full-time assistant coaches.

Wulff's most notable move was recruiting quarterback Sam Huard from Washington to San Luis Obispo. Huard was a five-star recruit while in high school at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, Washington.

While at Kennedy Catholic, Huard Huard set a Washington state high school passing record and finished with 13,214 passing yards and 153 touchdowns. 

Huard was ranked as ESPN's highest-rated quarterback prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, as well as the 15th overall prospect. He is easily the highest profile recruit to ever sign with Cal Poly.

Huard's head coach at Kennedy Catholic was Sheldon Cross, who was hired by Wulff to serve as offensive coordinator/running backs coach.

Huard is the son of former NFL quarterback Damon Huard, who was in attendance during Tuesday's morning practice. Huard is also the nephew of former NFL quarterback Damon Huard. All three Huards played quarterback at the University of Washington.

Last season, Huard played two seasons with the Huskies and finished with 265 passing yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.

He arrived at Cal Poly this past Friday and will enter the university as a redshirt sophomore.

"There are so many amazing people here," said Huard. "The team and the coaches, they have all been very welcoming to me and it's a blessing to be able to come out here with these guys, and this team, a lot of guys are really hungry to do something great and go win some games this year and we're just excited. It's early on. A lot of us have just gotten here, but it's a great group. It's a special group. It's hungry and there's a great mentality and a great new energy that I can definitely feel and I'm just excited to be a part of it and help push these guys and continue to get to work every single day to go chase our dreams and goals for the season."

"Ultimately, our goal is always is to go win a championship, and I know we definitely have the people in the room to go make it happen. We have some amazing people here, Coach Wulff, Coach Cross, Coach (Erik) Meyer are some amazing coaches, and it's exciting There's definitely a great vibe in here. Everyone is excited and ready to roll and get to work with each other and we're definitely coming for it all this season and we're excited to show people what we're about."

Huard said Tuesday that he is aware of the past struggles the Cal Poly program has endured recently, but pointed out this is a brand new team with a completely new identity.

"Coach Cross told us this morning, you can't go back and compete in the past," said Huard. What happened in the past with this team last year, who what happened to us individually these past couple of years, none of it matters. All that matters is right now and moving forward and what we're about to do. Obviously, the school has a great tradition overall, great culture, and so much support from alumni and the school here and it's such a great buzz and atmosphere. We're excited about what's next and that's what we're focused on is what's next, and moving forward, and one day at a time, and yes, we have these goals and aspirations up here, but we're just focused on one day at a time, and to continue to push each other, get better and get this thing dialed in."

Two other notable transfers set to play this season that potentially could have major impacts on the roster both have local roots, tight end Carlton Brown from Nevada and offensive lineman Thomas Cole from UCLA.

Brown played in high school at Mission Prep, while Cole played at San Luis Obispo. Both will transfer back home to San Luis Obispo as a redshirt sophomore.

"What's exciting about all the players that are new is that they're not just a senior," said Wulff. "A lot of them have got three years of eligibility to even four, so it's not like they're coming for one year and they're leaving, so we feel really good about that and building with our current young roster, but they do have experience at a high level, and so that's just going to help them help us, so we're excited about bringing those guys in and meshing. They're great people. They're team players and they're going to be a great addition to our program."

Several members of the team spoke about some of the off-field changes implemented by the new coaching staff since the end of last season that have been made to help beef up the players.

"We're getting a bunch of new stuff," said Meyer. "We have new nutrition, which is helping out the team. Getting the meals, and just with the weight program. We've amped that up too."

Wulff pointed out the new off-field regime, combined with the revamped roster, should result with significant improvements on the field during the upcoming season.

"We are going to be a more mature football team," said Wulff. "We are going to be more physical and you're going to see us be competitive against the very best in our league. I believe that we'll be extremely explosive. I think people are going to be excited to watch our offense make a lot of plays, score more points. I think defensively, you're definitely going to see a bigger, stronger football team that is going to be exciting to watch and I just know the evolution and where we're at right and I'm excited about it. I know we're not a finished product, but I also know that this fall people are going to be surprised about the quality of football that you're going to watch."

Keeping a close eye on Tuesday's practice was athletic director Don Oberhelman, who promoted Wulff from within last December, rather than go outside the program.

"It's really exciting for all of us," said Oberhelman. "I'm really fired up to be out here. I'm fired up to finally see these guys out running around. Paul, who has been a great asset for our program the last couple of years, and to watch him move into this role as our new head coach has been phenomenal to see, see his leadership just taking over the program. I'm so excited about what this is going hold. Got a lot of new guys on the field even for spring ball, which is a little bit unusual to have so many new guys out for spring. Usually, they wait until the fall, so it's a different group and I'm excited to see what they can do."

As he looked forward to this season, Oberhelman also spoke about the future, which he believes will be much brighter than the recent past.

He pointed out the soon-to-be construction of the $30 million John Madden Football Center, which will serve as the new home of Cal Poly football at the south end of Alex G. Spanos Stadium is likely to change the trajectory of the program into the upper levels of the FCS.

"We're super excited about what's coming down at Spanos Stadium," said Oberhelman. "We have the John Madden Football Center. Construction will be going on. It's going to be a bit of nuisance for this coming season because there's going to be construction cranes and all sorts of equipment down at the stadium, but that's a sign of tremendous progress I think. To see that thing come to fruition is going to be an amazing thing for our program. You're going to see construction on the other side as we put in a brand new video board technologies in the endzone to enhance the game atmosphere and then we're working on a conceptual plans for a beer garden around that space that I think is going to be a really unbelievable thing for just the overall game day atmosphere and experience."

Oberhelman added attendance at Spanos Stadium has been solid with community members over the past few seasons, but also acknowledged it's important for the university to improve on its ability to attract more fans from the student body.

"We have to focus on getting our students actively engaged in coming to the games," said Oberhelman. "We can sellout the stadium, but if there's no students there, it doesn't make for a great atmosphere, so we really need to engage our student body and the incoming freshman class that's going to be here this fall. We have been on a road show for the last few months with our head coach going around to various communities and speaking engagements to get some excited built about what we're about to do in terms of turning this program and getting it back to the playoffs, which we think is where we belong, so the marketing campaigns will begin in earnest over the summer in terms of how our season ticket campaign is going to look, and then we'll hit our students pretty hard when they immediately get here for the first week of class, and we'll start working to make sure they understand this is a fun and exciting thing to have. We're fortunate to have Division I football here on the Central Coast  and we all need to embrace it."

Oberhelman, who has served as athletic director since March 2011, believes that fans who do come out to Spanos Stadium this season will approve of the many changes that have been made with the program.

"I think our fans are going to be pretty pleased with what they see," said Oberhelman. "I think they're going to see great progress. I think they're going to see our team look different physically than what we did last year. We have a few different players that will be filling in some spots and I think we're going to be much improved. What that looks like in terms of win-loss record is hard to say, but I think the improvement is going to be evident."   

As Wulff looks ahead beyond this coming season, he believes the building blocks are in place to create a premiere FCS program that will return the Mustangs back to national prominence.

"I'd like to see us competing for Big Sky championships and putting ourselves in position to compete and win a national title," said Wulff. "Those are things that are doable. We just have to go about it the right way and it isn't always a quick fix, but we have a great young nucleus and a base to work with and I've been able to be around those kind of programs and seen them develop and I feel like we're definitely in that mode and direction right now."

Cal Poly will open the 2023 season at home in Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Sept. 2 with San Diego.