Rich Ellerson 7th year • Hawaii '77
41-27 at Cal Poly (six years)
45-34 overall (seven years)
Two Great West Football Conference championships, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoff berth and 33 wins in the last 47 games. That is the kind of success head coach Rich Ellerson has engineered in six seasons at Cal Poly, guiding the Mustangs to four consecutive winning campaigns for the first time since Joe Harper coached Cal Poly to 13 above-.500 seasons in a row from 1968-80.
Ellerson’s 2006 team finished 7-4, claimed third place in the Great West Football Conference, beat a Division I-A team for the second time in four years and ended up perhaps just a few key plays shy of its second straight NCAA Division I-AA playoff berth.
Linebacker Kyle Shotwell became the third Mustang in as many years to win the Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the Defensive Player of the Year in the Football Championship Subdivision, and was the fourth Mustang in 53 years to play in the East-West Shrine Game. James Noble became the first running back in Cal Poly history to rush for over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons, Chris White was the fourth Mustang in as many years to land a spot on the American Football Coaches Association All-America Team.
The Mustang defense posted three shutouts as the team finished ranked No. 16 in the nation by The Sports Network. A dozen Mustangs earned All-Great West honors and three were All-Americans. Cornerback Courtney Brown was selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, Shotwell signed a free-agent contract with the Oakland Raiders and Kenny Chicoine broke the school career interception record.
The 2005 squad finished 9-4 and was Cal Poly's first team in 12 tries to earn a berth in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, reaching the quarterfinal round before falling at Texas State. The Mustangs won four of five games against Big Sky Conference schools, the most in school history, and went 6-0 at home. Defensive end Chris Gocong won the Buck Buchanan Award. He also was the third Mustang ever to play in the East-West Shrine Game. Gocong was named to the AFCA All-America Team, following David Richardson in 2003 and Jordan Beck in 2004.
Both Beck (Falcons, 2005) and Gocong (Eagles, 2006) were chosen in the third round of the NFL Draft, Cal Poly's highest picks ever.
A total of 17 Mustangs were named to the 2005 All-Great West first or second teams and six earned All-America honors. Ellerson himself was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award presented to the Division I-AA Coach of the Year.
Ellerson was hired on Dec. 6, 2000 as Cal Poly's 15th head football coach after serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Arizona from 1997-2000. With the hunger and passion for a solid defensive unit, Ellerson has successfully carried over his passion for the defensive side of the ball to the players, coaches and all of those associated with the Mustang football program.
The offense also has improved tremendously as evidenced by the balance exhibited three years ago -- 184 yards on the ground and 183 through the air -- and the 9-2 mark posted by the 2004 squad.
The 2004 Mustangs went 4-1 for the inaugural Great West championship and won their first seven games overall en route to the most wins in seven years and a national ranking as high as No. 5. Numerous players earned postseason awards, including Beck, one of nine Mustangs named to the All-Great West first or second teams.
Cal Poly was 6-5 in Ellerson’s first year (2001), giving the Mustangs their first winning season since 1997. Cal Poly also improved on the 2000 defense that ranked near the bottom of I-AA with 279 yards rushing per game allowed. In 2001, the Mustangs finished the regular season ranked 26th in Division I-AA with just 122.6 yards rushing per game allowed. Cal Poly's pass defense was just as stingy, allowing only 213.0 yards passing per game.
Using the same “swarm” defense Ellerson had installed at Arizona, the Cal Poly defense caused havoc for opposing offenses all season as Cal Poly finished the regular season ranked sixth nationally in turnover margin at 1.6 per game. The Mustangs owned a +13 give-away, take-away margin as the Mustangs forced 30 turnovers while giving up just 17.
In 2002, Cal Poly faced a challenging schedule with a pair of Division I-A opponents and four Big Sky Conference members. The Mustangs slipped to 3-8 for the fourth time in five years, but won three of their final six games after an 0-5 start, including a last-second 28-26 win over Weber State in the season finale. Four of the losses occurred in games not decided until the final moments.
Two Mustang seniors went on to play in the Paradise Bowl -- cornerback Vaughn Jarrett and offensive tackle Brett Nichols. Three Mustangs earned All-NCAA Division I-AA Independents first-team honors -- Jarrett, defensive end Isaac Dixon and Beck -- while six others were named to the second team.
Cal Poly returned to the winning side of things in 2003 -- a 7-4 mark, national rankings as high as No. 14 midway through the season and a playoff drive that ended on the penultimate weekend as Idaho State rallied late for a 38-31 victory in Mustang Stadium.
Darrell Jones was eighth in the nation in punt returns while quarterback Chris Peterson was 10th in passing efficiency. Beck was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award and Richardson was Cal Poly’s first AFCA Division I-AA All-America Team honoree.
Ellerson, named NCAA Division I-AA Independents Coach of the Year in 2003 and a year later honored as Great West Football Conference Coach of the Year as well as AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year, brought 22 years of coaching experience with him to San Luis Obispo, including a one-year head coaching stint at Southern Utah in 1996, where his Thunderbirds were the top rushing team in the nation (I-AA).
While he has enjoyed great success at several I-A and I-AA programs, Ellerson, who has also coached in the Canadian Football League, basked in much success at the University of Arizona, where he was a top defensive assistant for eight seasons.
In 2000, Ellerson's last season with the Wildcats, Arizona again led the Pac-10 and finished the regular season ranked eighth in the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 88.5 yards per game. The Wildcats also ranked second in the league in total defense (317.5 yards per game and turnovers gained with 33. Arizona concluded the year 5-6 under coach d!(k Tomey, now head coach at San Jose State.
While at Arizona, Ellerson was also responsible for coaching the Wildcat kickers as Sean Keel improved from making only six of 19 attempts in 1999, to making 13 of 17 tries in 2000, ranking him third in the Pac-10 with 1.18 field goals per game.
In February 1996 Ellerson became head coach at Southern Utah and, in his only season, led the I-AA Thunderbirds to a 4-7 record, an improvement over the program’s 2-9 season in 1995.
Prior to that, Ellerson was a four-year defensive line coach at Arizona (1992-95) with defensive coordinator Larry MacDuff from 1992-95. The Wildcats' defensive system was ranked No. 2 against the run from 1992-93 and ranked in the top 10 in total defense all four years. He also helped improve Arizona's special teams play and coached placekicker Steve McLaughlin to the Lou Groza Award in 1994.
A 1972 graduate of Tucson's Salpointe Catholic High School, Ellerson was a center and linebacker in a four-year playing career at the University of Hawaii, from which he graduated in 1977. He served as a graduate assistant during Tomey's first year there in 1977. Ellerson was inducted into the Salpointe Catholic High School Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 28, 2002.
