Cal Poly Football announced the hiring of Paul Wulff as the program’s new head coach at a press conference Tuesday morning.
Wulff was formerly Eastern’s Washington and Washington State’s head coach and has been Cal Poly’s offensive line coach and running game coordinator under former head coach Beau Baldwin.
The press conference came just four days after Baldwin’s announcement that he would leave to become Arizona State University’s offensive coordinator.
“Personally, this position as head football coach at Cal Poly is one that I and my family have dreamed about for several years,” Wulff said in a Cal Poly news release.
Wulff has been with Cal Poly for the last three years. Baldwin promoted Wulff to associate head coach last summer, according to a Cal Poly news release. Before Cal Poly, Wulff helped coach Sacramento State and UC Davis’ teams.
In his 28 years working in college football, Wulff also served as head coach at Eastern Washington and his alma mater, Washington State.
At the professional level, Wulff was the senior offensive assistant on Jim Harbaugh’s staff with the San Francisco 49ers, where the team reached Super Bowl XLVII.
In terms of his coaching style and view of the program’s playstyle going forward, the former offensive lineman stayed true to his roots.
“I believe to win football games, there has to be physicality,” Wulff said. “We will enforce our will on people… that’s something we lacked.”
Wulff expressed appreciation for Cal Poly Athletic’s focus on academics, as well as Cal Poly’s alumni and boosters network that supports the football program.
“Your commitment and vision for this great university will help lead this program for years to come,” Wulff said.
Wulff also thanked President Jeffrey Armstrong and athletics director Don Oberhelman, who spoke at the press conference, for their “professionalism and commitment to Cal Poly and Mustang football.”
“We were overjoyed when [Wulff] joined our staff three years ago,” Oberhelman said. “Having [Wulff] on staff allowed us to have this succession plan in place.”
Oberhelman also cited Wulff’s familiarity with the program and the players within it as a positive for the future.
“[Wulff] knows our roster inside and out,” Oberhelman said. “He has been very active in recruiting this incoming class.”
On Friday, Mustang News broke the news that Baldwin was finalizing a deal to become the new offensive coordinator at ASU, paving the way for Wulff to take over.
When asked whether he can bring Cal Poly football back to national prominence, he responded “absolutely.”
“It’s going to take some time, but we’re going to be there a lot quicker than people think,” Wulff said.