Dave Alley
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Cal Poly formally introduced Tim Skipper as its new head football coach Monday morning.
During a press conference held inside the Performing Arts Center, Skipper officially took over the reigns of a Mustangs program that is seeking a re-establish itself as a premiere team in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
“We’re in paradise right now,” said Skipper. “The Central Coast is one of the most beautiful places in the whole country, so I’m just excited and ready to roll.”
Skipper arrives in San Luis Obispo with significant name recognition following his most recent position as interim head coach at UCLA.
Following the dismissal of DeShaun Foster in October, Skipper was named interim head coach and proceeded to win his first three games, including a stunning victory over then 7th ranked Penn State.
In the next two games after the Penn State win, Skipper led the Bruins to a pair of victories over Michigan State and Maryland before finishing with a record of 3-6 during his nine games as interim head coach.
His stint in Westwood followed another run as interim head coach at his alma mater at Fresno State.
In 2023, Skipper served as acting head coach for the Bulldogs in the team’s 37-10 victory over New Mexico State in the New Mexico Bowl.
Several months later, following the depature of then head coach Jeff Tedford, Skipper was named interim head coach and led the Bulldogs to a record of 6-7 and a bowl game appearance.
“I always will draw back from those days,” said Skipper. “When you take over a program in the middle of the season, that is tough and you have to get the mentality and your culture in days where it usually takes years. It’s a challenge, but I will use all those experiences that will not go to waste.”
Now, he takes over a Cal Poly program that has struggled since earning its last winning record nearly 10 years ago in 2016,
Over the past nine seasons, the Mustangs have an overall record of 23-69 and a mark of 14-53 in the Big Sky Conference.
Skipper acknowledged there are inherent challenges that are unique to coaching at Cal Poly compared to other universities, but believes he has the ability to bring winning football back to the program.
“Right now, you hear about challenges, but I want to kind of live them, I want to see them. I want to feel them. Once you do that, then what are you going to do? Are you going to go have excuses and go hide? Or are you going to go attack it? I’m going to go attack it full speed ahead. We’re going to recruit our tails off, and we’re going to fight on that practice field, and then we’re going to go out there and go win games. I expect to win. There’s always going to be hurdles. There’s a reason why I’m here, so it’s my job to go fix it, keep the guys mentally correct and mindset and go win. That’s what we’re going to do. Problems are problems and you just have to solve them.”
New Cal Poly athletic director Carter Henderson has only been on the job for a few weeks himself after he was hired in September to succeed longtime athletic director Don Oberhelman.
Making his first coaching hire, Henderson said he, along with others in the hiring process, identified 17 characteristics they were looking for with a new head coach, including four essential attributes, which included energy and passion, recruiting ability, someone who will establish a program culture and resourcefulness.
Henderson said Skipper not only possesses those four main characteristics, he actually has all 17 of them.
“I was sitting in my office late at night and I was kind of looking at our board and our characteristics, and it hit me that not only did we have a candidate who was best in class and the four preferred characteristics, this candidate actually checked all 17 of our other boxes, which I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Henderson. “He has such an infectious energy and enthusiasm, which I think our players are really going to benefit from. He has a really unique portfolio of work. He’s been an assistant coach. He’s been a head coach. He’s had a great playing career, so he really checked all the boxes that we were looking for, and I can’t wait for our student-athletes to experience his day-to-day culture that he will develop here.”
While speaking at the podium, Skipper talked about the style of football he intends to bring to the program, he hearkened about his former coach and mentor Pat Hill, who coached at Fresno State for 15 years.
“It’s going to come back to the root of tough, hard nosed, aggressive, fundamental football play with fanatical effort for as long as it takes to win,” said Skipper. “That’s what we’re going to be. We are going to be tough, hard nosed. We’re going to play physical and aggressive. Until they take the pads off and we start pulling flags, this game is physical. It is physical. It is the root of football. Bottom line. And we are going to match that intensity. That’s where we’re going to start I believe the teams inside out, so starting with the offensive line and the defensive line and then the quarterback. You have to be sufficient there. You have to impose your will at all three those spots and we will do that. You will then branch out to where we get to the wideouts and the DBs (defensive backs) and things like that, where speed and athleticism comes into play, but the trenches, we will own the trenches. I’ll tell you that right now.”
However, with the soon-to-be opening of the John Madden Football Center, along with the hiring of Skipper, there is optimism Cal Poly may be able to return to both regional and national prominence within the FCS.
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