When driving north on U.S. Highway 101, near the Los Osos Valley Road exit, students may notice the billboard displaying the 2011 Cal Poly men’s soccer schedule and the phrase: “Join the Green Army.”
The slogan is the latest installment of efforts employed by the men’s soccer team to generate passion from students and the community alike asking them to join the “Army” in support of Mustang soccer.
It can also be seen on T-shirts, banners downtown and even on scarves. The fervor that has captivated fans in the last half-decade can be attributed to head coach Paul Holocher’s ambition for the sport. He introduced the Central Coast to the game by utilizing a game-day atmosphere and experience rivaled by almost any collegiate soccer program in the nation, according to senior defender Patrick Sigler.
“(Holocher) changed this program 180 degrees,” Sigler said. “He’s gained a lot of respect from the community and the whole athletic department. (He’s) a very sociable person, he gets the community involved. Just getting his face out there, he lets the community know that he cares about them. (He) is a great promoter (of Cal Poly soccer), and I give him and the coaches all the credit.”
Cal Poly has participated in eight of the 16 best-attended matches in NCAA soccer regular season history, all within Holocher’s tenure.
Most recently, an at-capacity crowd of 11,075 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium witnessed the Mustangs defeat rival UC Santa Barbara 2-1 on a final minute penalty kick.
The rivalry between the Mustangs and Gauchos was virtually non-existent before Holocher, an inductee into the Santa Clara University Athletic Hall of Fame and former Major League Soccer (MLS) player, arrived on Cal Poly’s campus six years ago.
“When we first got here, everybody was new, and we were so hungry and so excited to play in front of even a couple thousand fans,” Holocher said. “The players hadn’t done that before. They’d only played in front of mom, dad and girlfriend … It’s just a game now that whether you’re a soccer fan or just a sports fan in general, you’re going to get your money’s worth by watching (Cal Poly versus Santa Barbara).”
Holocher tells the story of the beginning of large crowds at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, noting improvements in the quality of Cal Poly soccer, as well as his ability to tap in to the soccer culture prevalent at the youth level in the United States.
“You can ask anybody on campus ‘Did you play soccer growing up?’ and 90 percent are going to say ‘Yeah, I played,’” Holocher said. “They have some sort of connection to the game which is very unique to soccer in general. (Fans) realize that it doesn’t have to have a huge score line to be intriguing and exciting and edge-of-your-seat type stuff.”
Holocher is the director and founder of Catalyst Soccer and other youth player development programs. He spends many Saturdays throughout the year leading clinics promoting soccer amongst youth.
According to athletics director Don Oberhelman, the coach’s heavy involvement in promoting soccer to young kids is integral in the support of his own program.
“(Holocher) has done a remarkable job in terms of marketing and promoting the qualities of the program not just to the students, but to the community,” Oberhelman said. “The student turnout is absolutely unbelievable, but the other part of this that gets lost is the attendance from the community. He invests so much time into youth soccer here in San Luis Obispo, it’s very under-appreciated.”
Home field advantage has been a factor during his six seasons at the helm. Holocher has compiled an overall record of 51-44-19, including a 29-10-8 mark inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
One of the most vocal sections of fans at a Cal Poly soccer match are those found in section 108 of Spanos Stadium.
The Manglers, as the student spirit group is known, undoubtedly contribute to the atmosphere that makes Cal Poly so dangerous on its home pitch. The group was formed by a former player that Holocher coached.
Holocher’s recipe for success with fans has been studied by coaches of other athletics programs at Cal Poly as well. Third-year men’s basketball head coach Joe Callero said he’s used Holocher’s success with the fan base as a model for his own program.
“Holocher is one of the great examples of marketing we can use,” Callero said. “Over the course of his six years (at Cal Poly), he did what I call ‘eating the elephant bite by bite.’ He started at the grassroots youth programs, he got community involvement, created individual support groups. He laid out a great blueprint for me as a third-year coach.”
Oberhelman said “the Holocher effect” can resonate with even the most apathetic of fans as evidenced by attending a match such as the one versus UC Santa Barbara.
“Attending a match like that Santa Barbara match, the students had a shared experience on that night that they will remember for the rest of their lives,” Oberhelman said. “That will be a top 10 moment of their college experience at Cal Poly. You can’t duplicate that.”