Cal Poly announces Carter Henderson as new athletic director
Dave Alley
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Cal Poly has announced the appointment of Carter Henderson as the school’s new director of athletics.
Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong made the announcement Thursday morning inside the Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus.
Henderson will succeed Don Oberhelman, who announced his retirement in early June following 15 years in the position.
“I’m really proud to be a Mustang,” said Henderson. “I couldn’t be more excited about this, more grateful for the support and really excited to get going.”
A graduate from the University of Florida, Henderson arrives in San Luis Obispo after spending the past four years at Stanford University where he served in a number of different positions, including most recently, deputy athletics director for external relations
He also previously worked for the University of Washington and Jacksonville University.
During the press conference, Henderson pointed out his main objective as athletic director will be to excel in three specific categories.
“We will look in the community, we look in the classroom, and we’ll look at competition,” said Henderson. “We need to be outstanding citizens of the campus community and the Central Coast community, and the community of alumni and supporters of Cal Poly. If we can’t make people proud because of our citizenship in those communities, none of this is worth doing. In the classroom, at a place like Cal Poly that actually extends far beyond the classroom, that we need to think about the holistic educational experience. This is not about keeping people eligible and graduating them. This is about preparing people for the next stages of their life, and we need to be intentional about building plans there as we have. We need to continue that success. Finally, from a competition perspective, we’re here to win and we’re positioned to win. That is the third leg of the stool and it doesn’t matter how good we are at these other two, if we’re not competitive from a conference perspective and chasing national championships, we’re doing a disservice to all of our supporters and our student athletes in our program.”
Henderson will officially start his new job on Oct. 13, and he when does, he’ll take over leadership of a athletic department that features 19 teams, most who compete in the Big West Conference, along with football in the Big Sky Conference.
“Cal Poly is known for producing student-athletes who excel on the field and in the classroom. As we searched for a new athletic director to carry our momentum forward, it became clear that Carter’s background and experience would be a tremendous benefit to the university,” Armstrong said in a statement. “He has the vision and strategy and the deep experience with operations, communications and fundraising to help our student-athletes and our coaches reach even greater heights.”
As the landscape of college athletics undergoes is rapidly changing, Henderson will be tasked with guiding Cal Poly into the unknown future.
College sports is evolving seemingly on a daily basis, with shifting conference alignments, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, the transfer portal, new scholarships limits just a few of the myriad of significant changes that must be navigated both in the present and moving forward.
Oberhelman has been with the university since coming to San Luis Obispo in 2011 when he was appointed by Armstrong after a national search to replace then athletics director Alison Cone.
During this time, Cal Poly athletics experienced an era of unprecedented growth, and competitive and academic success.
The Mustangs have captured 54 team conference championships, including 51 in Cal Poly’s 16 Big West sponsored sports—more than any other Big West university in those sports over this span.
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