Less than a week after learning he would be stepping in as Cal Poly Football’s newest head coach, Tim Skipper was on stage in the lobby of Cal Poly’s Performing Arts Center on Monday, ushering in the newest era of Cal Poly Football on the heels of a disappointing 2025 season.
Skipper was officially introduced by Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong and Athletic Director Carter Henderson, where he spoke on his background and goals before taking questions from the media after the 10:30 a.m. event.
He was first named head coach in a Dec. 3 news release by Cal Poly Athletics less than two weeks after the announcement that they were parting ways with former head coach Paul Wulff.
READ MORE: Breaking: Tim Skipper named Cal Poly Head Football Coach
“Academically, Cal Poly has won back to back national championships,” Skipper said. “We need to do that football-wise. We want the same respect that academically we have here, and we are going to do that.”
Skipper brings a diverse coaching background to his first full-time head coaching position, dating back to his first Division I role in 2003 when he spent three years at Cal Poly’s Big Sky rival Sacramento State.
Since then, he has moved around the FBS and FCS divisions, spending time at Colorado State, Florida, Central Michigan and UNLV before his most recent roles as interim head coach at Fresno State and UCLA.
The hire is the first major decision made by Henderson as athletic director, as he was selected for the role back in September following former athletic director Don Oberhelman’s retirement.
READ MORE: Breaking: Cal Poly announces Carter Henderson as new athletic director
“The energy, the enthusiasm, the ability to raise those around him to a higher standard and implement a consistent culture over time, it’s just infectious,” Henderson said. “It’s that ability to develop a culture that expects to win.”
Skipper will be tasked with turning around a football program that finished their 2025 season with a 4-8 record, which included a six-game losing streak in conference play leading up to parting ways with Wulff on Nov. 23.
The Mustangs struggled on both sides of the ball at the end of the year, but their offensive shortcomings were most pronounced, as they failed to deliver consistently late in the season in losses to Idaho State and then-winless Portland State. The season wasn’t without its highlights, most notably a win over nationally-ranked Sacramento State, showing some promise in the squad that Skipper will take over.
During his remarks, Skipper preached building a brand of “hard-nosed football” based on adding strength at the quarterback, offensive line and defensive line positions. At UCLA, he took a struggling offense to a win over then-No. 7 ranked Penn State in just his second game.
“Expect to win,” Skipper said. “I’m all about winning, I didn’t come here to lose … we’ll figure out how that is and figure out the formula, that’s what the goal is.”
Just two days after the initial announcement of his hiring, Cal Poly Athletics released a list of 16 football recruit signees in a media release, including nine three-star recruits and one transfer. The early recruit class is ranked 141st out of all Division I football programs on 247 Sports.
The program will need to lean on their new coach and the long-awaited John Madden Center to entice a strong batch of newcomers to fill the gaps in their lineup next year.
Skipper will continue to build out Cal Poly’s roster during the off-season, with high expectations for the new brand of Cal Poly Football next fall.