Cal Poly Basketball: Joe Callero fired as head coach after 10 years

Let’s look at Joe Callero’s time at Cal Poly and consider what the Mustangs will do next with his replacement.

The Cal Poly Mustangs just announced that head coach Joe Callero would be relieved of his head coaching duties at the end of the season. Callero has spent the last ten seasons with the Mustangs and ranked 254th in our early season ranking of head coaches. With two games left in the year, these Mustangs sit at 6-21, with Callero’s total mark at Cal Poly just 126-182.

Callero’s coaching career began with nearly a decade at the high school and junior college level before he spent a season as an assistant at USC under Henry Bibby. His head coach career began with two years at D-3 Puget Sound before eight seasons with Seattle, as they began the transition to D-1. He was hired by the Mustangs in 2009.

In his decade in San Luis Obispo, Callero saw some success, mostly early on during his tenure. His 18-14 mark in 2013 including a 12-6 mark in Big West play and a CIT trip. The following year, his team made a surprise run through the Big West Tournament, making the NCAA Tournament despite finishing with a 14-20 record.

But the success wouldn’t last for Callero and the Mustangs. His 2nd place finish in 2011 was the highest he’d get in the league, and his team lost double-digit league games in each of the last six years. They sit at just 2-12 in Big West play this season, and it’s clear that the administration was not satisfied with the direction that this program was headed.

This past season, the Mustangs were led by a pair of senior guards: Donovan Fields (16.7 ppg, 4.0 apg) and Marcellus Garrick (11.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg). This team couldn’t get the job done with a lineup of upperclassmen, but it will give the next coach some room to bring in his own players. The best returning player would be sophomore forward Mark Crowe (9.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg), but this is a team that definitely needs an influx of new talent.

In recent years, there have been quite a number of talented coaches taking over programs in the Big West. Former power conference coaches like Dan Monson and Mark Gottfried while former assistants like Russell Turner and Dedrique Taylor have also done solid work in the conference. Cal Poly is a beautiful school on the pacific coast and they should be able to attract some successful candidates.

Big changes will be needed for the Mustangs, and I see the next coach being someone with significant recruiting experience. The talent level for the Mustangs needs to improve, though I doubt they’ll land a Gottfried type of coach during the offseason. Perhaps a Pac-12 or Mountain West assistant would be a solid grab, though I wouldn’t discount grabbing a hot name from D-2, like they did with Callero ten years ago.

Either way, Callero couldn’t get the job done in his decade at Cal Poly. He did lead the Mustangs to their first NCAA Tournament after their wild run in 2014, but there just wasn’t enough winning down the stretch. There are some talented teams in the Big West, but this next head coach could get these Mustangs back to the promise land.