J.J. Jenkins
[follow id = “JJJenkins7”]
Don Oberhelman’s Twitter feed hasn’t stopped blowing up since the men’s basketball team made a Cinderella run through the Big West Tournament. And he’s loving every minute of it.
Since taking over as athletics director in 2011, one of Oberhelman’s top priorities has been building Cal Poly’s brand. And the national attention brought by receiving a bid in the NCAA Tournament has given the Mustangs one of their largest platforms ever.
A photo from Cal Poly’s victory over Texas Southern on Wednesday night even made the front page of USA Today on Thursday. For Oberhelman, it was another example of the wide-ranging impacts of the berth.
In June, when the Cal Poly baseball team made the NCAA Regionals in Los Angeles, the public address announcer called the Mustangs the “Cal Poly Pomona Broncos” and the “Cal Poly Pomona Mustangs” before getting it right — the Cal Poly Mustangs. Oberhelman sees this week as the Mustangs’ chance to increase their brand recognition nationally, hopefully minimizing confusion between the two Cal Poly’s.
“This is a great opportunity to correct that on a big stage,” he said. “That we’re Cal Poly — that’s it — and to expose the academic nature of our school to a whole new crop of people.”
Oberhelman also noted that Cal Poly’s First Four appearance — despite being labeled by some as a “play-in game” — allowed the Mustangs to take the center stage without competing against any other tournament games for viewers attention.
Though, one outcome that would assure Cal Poly isn’t competing for attention tomorrow night is a close game against No. 1 seeded Wichita State. No 16 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed in 117 tries and any close call would send viewers flocking en mass to their televisions.
From a purely financial standpoint, the Mustangs’ tournament berth doesn’t mean the school or the athletics department receive more money from the NCAA. However, each NCAA Tournament game they play in, the more money is contributed to the Big West Conference as a whole, which is then distributed to member schools. Each game played by a member school increases the amount of money given to the conference.
“Yes, we’re going to see a little uptick in revenue from the win, but so will the other eight members of the Big West,” Oberhelman said.
He did say, though, he thinks ticket sales will increase next season, and it will be his and the athletics department’s job to keep the momentum rolling into November.
When it comes to tangible results on campus, Oberhelman said he hopes students and staff come to understand — because of the NCAA Tournament — that Cal Poly competes in Division I, right alongside big, brand names like UCLA, Kentucky and, now, Wichita State.
“We do have a little bit of apathy on our campus from the students when it comes to athletics,” Oberhelman said. “But (the tournament berth) is the kind of thing that helps all sports.”
Students did pack Chumash Auditorium on Wednesday to watch the Mustangs game against Texas Southern.
He also expects application rates to increase based on his experience at Kansas State when the Wildcats football team started to gain more national recognition.