Nearly two weeks ago, the Cal Poly men’s soccer team saw UC Santa Barbara score the first goal of the game, and then watched as the scoring player taunted their fans. But when Patrick Sigler’s penalty shot gave the Mustangs the lead with 40 seconds left, sophomore midfielder George Malki said the team just focused on finishing out the game.
“After scoring that second goal, we really didn’t have to taunt,” Malki said.
Sportsmanlike behavior such as this is an example of what the Cal Poly athletics department is promoting as part of the “Mustang Way,” — 12 guiding principles designed to serve as standards of behavior and attitude for university athletes as players and students.
The idea was formed by athletics director Don Oberhelman during the summer and developed along with coaches, student athletes, alumni, donors and administration members. It was presented to the department and the athletes during the first week of school.
Oberhelman said he wanted something simple and easy to read that represented who the athletics department was. As someone new on the job, he said it was important for him to come up with a definition.
“I believe very deeply in these (guidelines),” Oberhelman said. “I think if you honor these 12 things, you cannot fail.”
While developing the Mustang Way wasn’t motivated by any event in particular, Oberhelman said he was unhappy with the small number of athletes attending events for other sports programs, and wanted to see more support between teams.
But he said he wants to be clear that these principles aren’t new in practice. Cal Poly athletes have been following these ideas, but this is the first time they’ve been written down, Oberhelman said.
Another supporter of the Mustang Way is men’s soccer head coach Paul Holocher, who said the principles are about more than winning and losing.
Coaches are always striving to teach athletes to do the right things, Holocher said. He said athletes are held to a different standard, and can’t be party people on the weekend and then expect to be top-flight athletes.
Women’s basketball head coach Faith Mimnaugh echoed Holocher’s opinion. She said the department wanted the new Mustang Way to serve as a mission statement and is “something (they’re) going to pass on forever.”
“We’re not waiting for other people to do things for us,” Mimnaugh said. “We’re going to strap up our boots and do it ourselves.”
Both coaches said they agree the Mustang Way has clarified expectations for athletes. Holocher said it’s more tangible now, and Mimnaugh said it provides a “collective clearness” for the department.
“Existing coaches here, we all really value all these things listed in the Mustang Way already,” Holocher said. “The biggest difference is that it’s got life now. It’s recognized more.”
And both coaches supported Oberhelman’s statement about athletes already practicing what’s in the Mustang Way.
Holocher, for instance, said it’s important to the men’s soccer team to be role models, while Mimnaugh said the women’s basketball team enforces a no-alcohol policy that improves performance. Both coaches also said their teams support other sports programs.
Soccer player Malki agrees with his coach. He said what athletes do off the field translates into what they do on the field.
“These guidelines make it easier and clear things up for us and show us what we should be doing,” Malki said.
While he said he hasn’t changed the way he has played since the Mustang Way was implemented a few weeks into the season, Malki said he has embraced it and that it drives him to do his best.
This is in part because the Mustang Way specifically states what is expected.
For senior women’s basketball forward Kristina Santiago, she said this prevents different rules for different teams from becoming misleading because now the rules are unified.
“I don’t think it was ever established as a whole what was expected of Cal Poly student athletes,” Santiago said. “Definitely as a department I think it was really good to get us together and kind of go over ‘This is what we expect from everyone, not just this team.’”
Santiago also said these are changes that have needed to be made in the department for a while because the Mustang Way increases support between teams and gets staff to encourage the idea of all athletes being part of a big family.
The Mustang Way helps bring them all together and feel united, she said.
That unity can be seen in the green bracelets worn by Cal Poly athletes that read ‘The Mustang Way,’ which are something Oberhelman said he’d like to see as many athletes wearing them as possible.
“Even when you don’t necessarily know all the other athletes, when you see someone you kind of have that sense of community,” Santiago said.