Gary Robert Kloppenburg (born January 6, 1953) is an American basketball coach.

Early life and college career

Kloppenburg was born in 1953, when his father

Bob Kloppenburg Robert G. Kloppenburg (born July 28, 1927) is an American basketball coach. Kloppenburg played college basketball at USC and Fresno State. In a career spanning from the 1950s to 1990s, Kloppenburg coached at the high school, college, and professi ...

was head coach at Lindsay High School in

Lindsay, California Lindsay is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 12,659 at th2020 census Lindsay is located southeast of Visalia and north of Porterville and is considered part of the Visalia-Porterville Metropolitan Area and t ...

. When Bob Kloppenburg became head coach of California Western (later U.S. International) University, Gary Kloppenburg later attended

La Jolla High School La Jolla High School (LJHS) is a comprehensive high school for grades 9–12 located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. Opened in 1922, La Jolla High School (LJHS) is the second-oldest campus in the San Diego Unified School Distric ...

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, graduating in 1971. From 1972 to 1974, Gary Kloppenburg attended

Feather River College Feather River College (FRC) is a community college in Quincy, California. The school serves an annual full-time enrolled student body of approximately 1,500 students. History Feather River College was established in 1968 to support the need f ...

and played on the basketball team. Kloppenburg then played semi-professional basketball in Europe, first with the

English National League The English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League. It was suspended during the Second World War World War II or t ...

in 1975–76 then in the Netherlands in 1977. He then returned to the U.S. and enrolled at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, where he played on the

UC San Diego Tritons The UC San Diego Tritons are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, San Diego. UC San Diego has 23 varsity sports teams and offers student participation in a wide range of sports. As of July 1, 2020, all UC San Diego tea ...

men's basketball team in the 1978–79 and 1980–81 seasons. Kloppenburg graduated from UC San Diego in 1981 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Spanish literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects wit ...

Coaching career

Kloppenburg began his coaching career as an assistant men's basketball coach at Feather River College. In 1984, Kloppenburg became head coach. From 1988 to 1993, Kloppenburg was head women's basketball coach at

Lassen Community College Lassen Community College is a Public college, public community college in Susanville, California. It is a part of the California Community Colleges System. The college is located in Susanville in the high mountain lake country of northeastern Ca ...

Susanville, California Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 a ...

, where he led the team to two consecutive

California Community College Athletic Association The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

titles in 1992 and 1993. From 1993 to 1999, Kloppenburg was head men's basketball coach at Lassen. Kloppenburg served as an assistant coach with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

from 2000 through 2002 and

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

in 2003. He was an assistant coach of the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

from 2004-2007, and an assistant coach of the Indiana Fever from 2008 through 2011 and

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

in 2014. Kloppenburg improved the Shock during his two-year tenure; nevertheless, he was fired after the 2013 season. In 2017, Kloppenburg became an assistant for the

. Kloppenburg served as interim head coach on August 10, 2017 after head coach

Jenny Boucek Jennifer Dawn Boucek (born December 20, 1973) is an assistant basketball coach for the Indiana Pacers, a former basketball player, and former head coach of the Seattle Storm. She was hired by the Storm on January 20, 2015, but terminated on August ...

was fired. Kloppenburg stayed on the staff under new head coach Dan Hughes. In the 2019 season, Kloppenburg served as interim head coach during the time Hughes was recovering from cancer surgery. On June 29, 2020, Kloppenburg became head coach again after Hughes was determined to be at higher risk of illness from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Coaching record

WNBA

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WNBA Championship The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kloppenburg, Gary 1953 births Living people American men's basketball players American women's basketball coaches Charlotte Bobcats assistant coaches Continental Basketball Association coaches Feather River College alumni Indiana Fever coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Junior college women's basketball coaches in the United States Los Angeles Sparks coaches People from La Jolla, San Diego Seattle Storm coaches Basketball players from San Diego Sportspeople from Tulare County, California Tulsa Shock head coaches UC San Diego Tritons men's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association championship-winning head coaches Women's National Basketball Association general managers