Cal Poly announced on Tuesday morning that Mike DeGeorge is the Mustangs’ new head men’s basketball coach. DeGeorge has been the head coach at D-II Colorado Mesa for the last six years, going 141-43 overall with three RMAC titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
“We had some great basketball minds that aided Cal Poly through the search, and we appreciate the time and dedication it took from many people to help with this process,” AD Don Oberhelman said in a statement. “Coach DeGeorge has a proven track record of building programs from the ground up – he’s done it at every level. President Armstrong and I felt that his years of experience and demonstrated success as a collegiate head coach is exactly what Cal Poly needs at this time. Our fans will love the style of play Coach DeGeorge will be bringing to the Central Coast.”
In addition to his time at CMU, the 54-year-old DeGeorge was a long-time D-III head coach with stints at Rhodes College in Memphis (2010-18), Cornell College in Iowa (2004-09) and Eureka College in Illinois (2000-04). He’s a proven program builder, taking all three from single-digit wins in year one to league titles and postseason appearances by the end of his tenure. DeGeorge has won conference coach of the year awards from the IIAC (2009), SAA (2017) and RMAC (2021, 2023).
“I am honored to be selected as the next head men’s basketball coach at Cal Poly,” DeGeorge said. “My wife Christi and I have been blown away by Cal Poly and the Central Coast, but the people are what convinced us this is an ideal professional fit for me and a personal fit for our family. I have made a career of turning programs around and to be able to do it at the Division I level would be a dream come true. In addition, I believe our system is built to help us maximize our potential and we are excited to put that to the test. Let’s get to work!”
Cal Poly moved on from previous head coach John Smith earlier this month after five seasons, all with the Mustangs losing at least 20 games. The program has been to the D-I NCAA Tournament just once (2014) and haven’t finished above .500 since 2012-13. It will be another rebuild project for DeGeorge, as well as his first D-I coaching opportunity.
credit to Cal Poly Athletics for the image
