Bubba in your opinion what was/is Cal Poly missing to be more competitive in recent years? I know it could be sensitive so maybe ranking 1 through 7: 1 being strongest and 7 weakest. Coaching, recruiting, defensive scheme, offensive scheme, Administrative support, community support and facilities.
Number one problem
1. Coaching. I was not impressed with the head coach or either coordinator. The head coach was full of excuses and too loyal to his coaches. What I mean by that is he had coaches not performing at a high level and didn’t make accountable.Cal Poly does not pay their assistant coaches well and it's super expensive to live in SLO. Bad combination.
2. Although Cal Poly has many talented players, they have not been getting the players needed to win consistently especially on defense. The most glaring weakness recruiting is defensive linemen.
3. Offensive scheme. The triple option is an old outdated system too dependent on other factors. Running the ball 85% of the time is too predictable. If you choose to run this system you can never fall too far behind on the scoreboard because it takes a long time to score when running the ball. You can’t get too many penalties putting yourself in long yardage situations. Another thing required is playing good defense so you’re never far behind. In a nutshell the Cal Poly version was too predictable and their defense simply wasn’t good enough.
4. Defensive scheme. The Mustangs ran the 3-4 because they always seemed to be lacking good defensive linemen. The problem was compounded by not having at least four good linebackers. Defensive backs rarely seemed to turn and look for the ball on deep passes, which in my opinion is bad coaching. Probably the most glaring deficiency on defense was tackling. Possibly the worst tackling I’ve ever witnessed at any level of football.
5. Fan support. Even when the team was winning their always seemed to be a lack of fan support. Students were not quick to show up and were early to leave in the second half. There seems to be more interest in men’s soccer, especially when playing UCSB. There are many anti Walsh alumni and fans that will likely show renewed interest now that Walsh is gone.
6. Facilities are admittedly not the best at Cal Poly. With that said they are good enough and recruits accept that fact when they sign on there.
Even though they didn't win many games my son got lots of playtime and was second team all Big Sky conference twice despite playing on a losing team. I had a blast watching him play division one football and play it well.
