Paul Woolpert is an American basketball coach and scout. He was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Yakima Sun Kings The Yakima SunKings are a basketball team located in Yakima, Washington, covering the central Washington sports market of Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg and plays at the Yakima SunDome. The team competed in the Continental Basketball Associat ...

in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for seven non-consecutive years (1998–2001, 2004–2008). He was named CBA Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008. He led the Sun Kings to four CBA Championships (1995, 2000, 2006, 2007). A new Yakima Sun Kings team was founded in 2017 and Woolpert was hired as head coach. The team won the

North American Premier Basketball The Basketball League (TBL), formerly North America Premier Basketball (NAPB), is a minor league basketball organization. The league began operating in North America in 2018 with eight teams, and expanded to over 44 teams as of 2022. The Bas ...

(NAPB) Championship in 2018. He was fired during the 2019 NAPB Championship Series. Woolpert was also head coach of the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

of the CBA (2001–02), the

Talk 'N Text Phone Pals Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(2003), the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

(2008–09) and the

Townsville Crocodiles The Townsville Crocodiles were an Australian professional men's basketball team based in the North Queensland city of Townsville. They competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at the Townsville Entertainmen ...

of the National Basketball League (2011–13).

Coaching career

Woolpert went to

Peninsula College Peninsula College is a public community college in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and offers a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree, tr ...

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021. The city's har ...

and later transferred to the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

, where he was a student assistant coach for the men's basketball team. Woolpert got his start as a scout and video coordinator for the Seattle SuperSonics in 1986, remaining in the role until 1994. From 1995 to 2004, Woolpert served as a scout for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. Woolpert also coached in other capacities while maintaining those responsibilities, spending time as an assistant coach with the Sioux Falls Skyforce and the Yakima Sun Kings. Woolpert was promoted to head coach of the Sun Kings prior to the 1998 season, winning his first CBA Championship in 2000. Yakima enjoyed continued success with Woolpert at the helm, winning the CBA Championship in 2006 and 2007, while setting a CBA record for winning percentage, finishing the 2007–08 season with a 43–5 record (.895). After serving as head coach of the

in 2008–09, Woolpert moved to Australia where he spent two seasons as the head coach of the

. In 2014–15, Woolpert served as the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

' lead assistant coach. In August 2015, Woolpert was named an assistant coach for the Los Angeles D-fenders of the NBA Development League. In October 2017, Woolpert rejoined the rebooted Yakima SunKings as its head coach and general manager ahead of the 2018 NAPB season. The SunKings went on to win NAPB championship in 2018. In 2019, Woolpert led the SunKings to the championships series, where he was released mid series by the owner following a Facebook post made by Woolpert asking for funds to bring his entire roster to the final championship game. In July 2019, Woolpert was reappointed as lead assistant of the Perth Wildcats. However, he parted ways with the Wildcats on October 23, 2019, to return to the United States for family reasons.

Coaching record

PBA record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolpert, Paul Living people Date of birth missing (living people) American men's basketball coaches The Basketball League coaches Year of birth missing (living people) American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Australia TNT Tropang Giga coaches