Fresno State head football coach Pat Hill recently told the Fresno Bee he expects the Bulldogs to play Cal Poly in 2010, after playing UC Davis in 2009.
Although he told the Fresno Bee he was unsure if the contracts were finalized, he reiterated his interest in Cal Poly, which he first publicly broached July 23 at the Western Athletic Conference media day (fast-forward to about the 25-minute mark).
Apparently, he wants to pursue rotationally inviting three of the state’s four Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) teams on a yearly basis.
Perhaps more interestingly, though, Hill told the Fresno Bee that he believes Cal Poly, in addition to UC Davis and Sacramento State, will eventually belong to the WAC.
Maybe someday, but don’t bet on it any time too soon. For now, all signs point to Cal Poly staying in the Big West Conference, from which it’s yet to send either of its basketball teams or its baseball team to their respective national playoffs.
Typically, athletic programs have to enjoy more across-the-board success to make such a leap.
And Alison Cone, Cal Poly’s athletic director, stressed Cal Poly’s steadfast comfort with the Big West amidst the Great West Football Conference recently expanding into an all-sports league.
It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise in the not-too-distant future, however. After all, it wasn’t even 15 years ago that Cal Poly was competing at the Division II level, and Wednesday’s opening Cal Poly football practice seemed like something of a larger school’s media day, with no fewer than six media outlets interviewing dozens of players and coaches over what, realistically, amounted to a non-story, anyway.