Kloppenburg’s a big name in hoops – and at PLNU where new women’s head coach continues the family legacy

Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt has a lot of history on The Point.

Point Loma Nazarene’s new women’s basketball head coach is following a path that started with Grandpa Bob Kloppenburg. He coached men’s basketball at California Western, once located on the Point Loma campus, for nearly 20 years, starting in 1958, and developed the SOS pressure defense there.

Years later, Kloppenburg-Pruitt played two seasons at Point Loma during its transition to NCAA Division II under Bill Westphal, whose brother, Paul, coached alongside Bob in the NBA with the Seattle SuperSonics.

“There was definitely some familiarity with our families,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt remembered. “Point Loma was my dream school out of high school. I just wasn’t good enough yet. I went to Ventura College for two years, got to play, learned a lot and got better. When it came time to go to the next level, Point Loma was the first one I reached out to. My visit was kind of a visit, but it was also kind of a tryout, and I probably had the best day of my life.”

Kloppenburg-Pruitt played at Point Loma in 2012-13 and 2013-14, averaging 10.0 points per game as a freshman and earning Academic All-PacWest honors both seasons.

“There’s quite a few people still here from when I was a player, but now I’m getting to work with them more directly,” said Kloppenburg-Pruitt, who was hired June 29 to succeed Charity Elliott. “The campus is so similar to when I was here. There’s a new science building and some renovations, but it still feels very familiar.

“The teams have all gotten better, too, and I think that’s going to be really fun — the competition within each sports program. Everybody is competing on the national stage, and I think that’s a big area where it’s grown since I graduated.”

A third-generation coach, Kloppenburg-Pruitt followed her grandfather and dad, Gary Kloppenburg, a La Jolla High School and later UC San Diego hooper who spent 20 years coaching in the WNBA.

“Everything that we do defensively is derived from them,” she said. “This campus is really where [grandpa Bob] was able to experiment and build his defensive philosophy. My dad has really adapted that defense and done different things with it. For me, I’ve just taken pieces of it and adapted it to what works best for our program and the college game.”

After playing at Point Loma, Kloppenburg-Pruitt began her coaching career with WNBA internships before moving into college coaching at Arizona State and San Jose State. She landed her first head-coaching job at Southern Oregon in 2021 and went 134-31 in five seasons. She led the Raiders to the NAIA National Tournament every year while winning two regular-season conference championships and three conference tournament championships.

“I’ve adapted quite a few things from the different journeys I’ve been on,” she said. “Culture is everything, and that’s where I’ve been able to put my values and my stamp on our programs.”

“Carlotta’s experience at the WNBA, high-major Division I, mid-major Division I, low-major Division I and NAIA levels gives her a unique perspective that few coaches possess,” PLNU athletic director Jordan Courneya added. “Combined with her proven ability to build winning programs and develop student-athletes, we believe she is the right person to lead our women’s basketball program into its next chapter.”

With a 10-month-old and 4-year-old at home, Kloppenburg-Pruitt called the last two months “a crazy time of life, but a lot of fun.”

Much of that time has been spent moving her family from Oregon and getting settled in San Diego. She’s learning the logistics of a new school and meeting the people who support the program and the student-athletes’ academic success, while planning preseason and adjusting to NCAA Division II rules after five seasons in the NAIA.

She’s also studied film of the roster she inherited from Elliott and Grace Ricafranca. Elliott, now an assistant coach at TCU, went 95-56 over five seasons, leading PLNU to three straight NCAA West Regionals and its first PacWest title in program history.

“I think the culture has been established with what Charity did, and now it’s just really continuing that culture, and then having them understand it’s going to be different, and that’s OK,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said.

This summer, senior guard Izzy Navarro transferred to San Diego State after averaging 11.7 points per game and leading NCAA Division II in steals last season. Kloppenburg-Pruitt said she understood the move, given the opportunity Navarro had to play at a higher level, and knew a new coaching staff could not expect to keep everyone.

The answer was familiar: sophomore guard Sage Winslow, who started 24 of 30 games and averaged 9.2 points last season at Southern Oregon. Kloppenburg-Pruitt called Winslow “a great culture piece” who understands the system and will complement the players already at PLNU.

“As a coach, you just really have to shift gears,” she said. “It’s OK. It’s going to happen. And how do we just get better from there?”

Kloppenburg-Pruitt also reunited with former Southern Oregon assistants Richard Vasey and Kami Walk, bringing two trusted voices from her previous program to PLNU.

“They know who I am. They understand our standards,” she said. “It’s really fun to be able to actually have them full time and in the office every day, so we can talk and plan practice and do all those little things to make our program successful.”

Vasey spent all five seasons on Kloppenburg-Pruitt’s Southern Oregon staff while also working a full-time job. Walk played for Kloppenburg-Pruitt before coaching alongside her for a season. She will work primarily with PLNU’s post players.

“She’s an excellent teacher,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “She’s played for me, she’s coached for me. I think just having two excellent people makes this transition for all of us a little bit easier.”

PLNU opens the 2026-27 season Monday at San Francisco State, the first game that counts under Kloppenburg-Pruitt.

“My expectations are always going to be high,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “We’re going to have some growing pains. But we’re going to build it the right way with our fundamentals and with seeing each other. And by the end, we’re hoping to be—you know, you want to be a champion every single year.”