Cal Poly introduces its new head football coach — and he’s got lofty goals
Cal Poly introduced its new head football coach at news conference Wednesday at the Multi-Activity Center on campus.
Beau Baldwin was formally announced as the new head coach, just three weeks after former head coach Tim Walsh retired following 11 seasons at the helm and the third straight losing season for the program.
The talks moved quickly, as the first meeting between the two sides took place last Wednesday.
“I just got an amazing feel for the place,” Baldwin said. “I already had a good feel — because I knew so many coaches here. I knew Coach Walsh, I knew a lot of the assistants that have been here. I’d been fortunate enough to be down here competing, so I had a good feel for the area. But that just took it over the top, when I went through that process.”
Baldwin said he had several face-to-face meetings with Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox over the weekend before taking the job on Tuesday.
Baldwin previously served as the offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and running backs coach at Cal since 2017. Cal went 19-18 over those three seasons.
The Bears ranked second to last in offensive efficiency among all Power 5 teams following Baldwin’s second season, which includes the ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences.
This year, the Bears won their first four games — including a win against then-No. 14 Washington 20-19. Injuries derailed the promising start, with the Bears dropping the next four games, but Cal finished the regular season with wins over UCLA and Stanford and was second in the Pac-12.
Coaching at Eastern Washington
It was at Eastern Washington where Baldwin had his most success, which like Cal Poly, is in the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles won five Big Sky titles with Baldwin as head coach, with a combined record of 85-32 over nine seasons.
In 2010, Eastern Washington won its first and only FCS championship over Delaware.
For eight of those seasons, Eastern Washington ranked among the top-10 teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in passing offense. Baldwin had two NFL wide receivers drafted during his time in Washington: Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams and Kendrick Bourne of the San Francisco 49ers.
Quarterback Vernon Adams also parlayed his success under Baldwin into a graduate transfer to Oregon.
Those players were developed under a culture that Baldwin installed, rather than coming in as polished recruits.
“I think sometimes that gets lost,” Baldwin said. “That’s where you develop the consistency over time. They didn’t have four or five stars next to their name, yet they end up in the NFL.”
The Eagles consistently competed with larger FBS schools, with a win over No. 25 Oregon State in 2013, scoring 42 points in a loss to Oregon the following year, and shocking Washington State in 2016.
Baldwin also was head coach at Central Washington for a single season, taking the Wildcats to the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs.
While in college, Baldwin played quarterback at Central Washington from 1990-93, and he went on to play one season of semi-pro football in Sweden in 1993.
Baldwin’s plans for Cal Poly
So what can fans expect at Cal Poly?
“Most likely you’ll see a 180 on offense,” Baldwin said. “You will. Because it’s what I believe. That doesn’t mean that there will be a 180 in terms of how they play — because I have so much respect for that — but the style, yes, that will be more in the mold of (a) multiple offense.”
After 18 years of the triple-option under two head coaches, Baldwin’s offense should come as a welcome change.
Baldwin will adapt the offense to the personnel he has to work with. Some seasons he has opted for two-tight end looks, while other seasons he opted for five wide and an empty backfield.
In Baldwin’s first season at Eastern Washington, he went 6-5 and 5-3 in the Big Sky. His second season he went 8-4 and advanced to the FCS playoffs.
The program’s turnaround will depend largely on the kind of recruits he is able to bring in to surround players who were primarily expected to run the triple-option.
“I’m more proud of doing something over time than making one run,” Baldwin said. “I want to do something over time — we will do something over time.
“I told the team that today. We will focus on what we need to do day to day, but make no means about it: We’re pushing for a five, 10-year vision to be the premier team in this conference and compete nationally. Period.”
In that respect, Baldwin’s experience recruiting at an academic school like Cal in the Pac-12 won’t hurt.
The early signing period for high school seniors begins Dec. 18 and the contact period began the first of the month.
Luckily, Baldwin has been here before.
There wasn’t an early signing period when he started at Eastern Washington in 2008, but he wasn’t brought on until December. At Cal, he was hired in January of 2017.
“So, I’ve been down this road before,” Baldwin said. “It doesn’t make it easy, but they’re challenges we’ll go after. And we’ll get those guys. We’ll get the guys who want to be Mustangs.
“That first year can be the toughest, but I’m not going to look at as anything but, ‘You know what? It’s a good challenge, but we’re going to go after it,’ and we’ll sign the right guys this year.”
The signing marks the third major turnover at the head coach position in two seasons at Cal Poly, following the signing of head basketball coach John Smith and volleyball coach Caroline Walters.
The next coaching position to be filled is like that of longtime men’s golf coach Scott Cartwright, who announced his retirement after 19 years.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Cal Poly introduces its new head football coach — and he’s got lofty goals."