Anyone walking into the office of Don Oberhelman would know right away that he is the traditional “sports guy.”
Calendars for Cal Poly men’s and women’s basketball teams hang on the walls, across from photographs of Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Bases and other sporting trophies are gathered under one desk, while a three-foot-long statue of baseball player Ozzie Smith sits on top of a cabinet, in front of a photo of Cal Poly’s volleyball team in a game against Long Beach State.
Oberhelman has good reason to decorate his office in this fashion. He is not just an avid sports fan, but he is the athletics director (AD) for Cal Poly.
Oberhelman, who is still in his first year as AD, said his No. 1 priority is the success of his students, and he tries to show this with everything he does.
“It’s my job to help make sure they’re getting everything out of that opportunity they can get,” Oberhelman said.
To help his student-athletes take advantage of the opportunities they’re given, he starts the day early, arriving on campus at 7 a.m. most mornings, and snagging the same choice parking spot near the stairs in the parking garage each time.
Last Wednesday was no different.
It started off like most of his days, with Oberhelman focusing on responding to emails and preparing for upcoming meetings while he had some quiet time.
The AD keeps his office door open to athletes and coaches who need his help when he’s not in meetings, and most mornings he sees a steady flow of changing faces.
Already by 9 a.m., Oberhelman has seen baseball head coach Larry Lee and women’s basketball head coach Faith Mimnaugh, as well as worked on resolving a roommate conflict between two student athletes and their non-athlete roommate.
“I think a lot of what I do is situational management,” Oberhelman said. “You never know what the next day is going to hold in terms of crises or problems.”
The unpredictability of the job is part of what Oberhelman said he enjoys most, though. Working with college students makes each day new and fresh, “like being around a fountain of youth,” he said.
Oberhelman doesn’t stay in his office all morning waiting for student athletes to come see him, though. He takes time to visit Cal Poly’s different sports fields to see the athletes in action.
Tuesday, he visited women’s basketball, and Wednesday mornings he watches the men’s and women’s tennis teams practicing the courts.
Oberhelman said he likes to visit each practice not only to see the student-athletes, but also to see how the coaches interact with them. Most importantly though, he wants the student-athletes to understand that he is interested in their success, Oberhelman said.
“I don’t go to really evaluate or look for anything special,” Oberhelman said. “I just want them to know I care. I care about their success.”
After watching the tennis players at work for 15 minutes, Oberhelman headed back to his office to make some phone calls before lunch.
Seated in a rolling chair in front of his desk, Oberhelman called an old colleague for advice on a staffing search. From his seat, Oberhelman read over “The Mustang Way,” a large framed green poster that hangs alone on one wall.
“The Mustang Way” was one of the first big changes Oberhelman made as the new AD. It’s a set of tenets devised with the help of Cal Poly’s coaches that Oberhelman said he believes will help any student-athlete succeed if followed.
This includes statements such as: “Integrity and character shall guide all our decisions and actions” and “As student-athletes, we take pride in achieving Athletic and Academic Excellence.”
No sooner had Oberhelman finished his phone call, then his cell phone rang again. The campus attorney was on the line, discussing a release of records to the Tribune.
After a short back-and-forth, Oberhelman decided to leave his office once again, and visit strength-training and conditioning coach Dave Wood, in the weight room on the first floor of the gym, to discuss getting “The Mustang Way” displayed there.
The weight room is an excellent symbol of the state of Cal Poly’s athletic facilities, Oberhelman said. It may not be as large or high-tech as other schools’ weight rooms, but it gets the job done.
“I would like this to be so much bigger, so much nicer, but the 50 pound weight there would weigh the same in a much nicer facility,” Oberhelman said.
Wood, who oversees the workouts of every athlete in the weight room, said a larger facility would be nice for the athletes, but that doesn’t change the fact that student-athletes at Cal Poly get what they need to succeed.
“Work is work,” Woods said.
The key to improving those facilities makes up the second half of Oberhelman’s day.
With state funding tight, the money for new weight rooms and fancier gyms is going to have to come from private funding, Oberhelman said.
Oberhelman works to bring this money in by meeting with donors and sponsors, which takes up a good deal of his time, said his assistant Lynn Ogden.
“He’s been extremely busy with appointments because he’s new and trying to meet as many donors and boosters as he can,” Ogden said.
On Wednesday alone, Oberhelman had lunch with several corporate sponsors, before a meeting with the athletic department’s marketing head, followed by dinner with several donors.
This busy schedule is precisely what the athletic department needs though, Ogden said.
“He’s a very good speaker, and it’s clear that it’s to our benefit that he reaches out and spends time in the community,” Ogden said.
And that benefit is for the athletes, Oberhelman said.
Every meeting that Oberhelman goes to serves a single purpose: “It all leads back to one thing: service to the student-athlete,” he said.