Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt first came to Point Loma Nazarene University as a student-athlete, playing women’s basketball from 2012 to 2014. More than a decade later, she has returned to campus as the Sea Lions’ new head coach for women’s basketball, bringing a familiar connection to the university and a new, defense-minded vision for the program.
Athletic director Jordan Courneya, an associate head coach for PLNU’s men’s basketball team during Kloppenburg-Pruitt’s playing career, said her leadership potential was already evident.
“During her playing career, you could see her leadership skills on and off the court,” Courneya said via email. “I was always impressed with the way she carried herself and her knowledge of the game.”
Kloppenburg-Pruitt, former head coach at Southern Oregon University, takes over a team adjusting to a new staff and system. Her priorities for the team are clear: build trust, establish toughness, and help players improve each day on the court, in the classroom, and in their lives beyond basketball.
“I really want to just get better at the little things every single day,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “We’re going to fight little battles all year. One day, one practice at a time, one drill at a time.”
Kloppenburg-Pruitt grew up in Susanville, California, in a family immersed in coaching. Her mother coached youth basketball and taught physical education, while her father built a career primarily in the WNBA and now serves as an assistant coach for the Indiana Fever.
Her grandfather spent much of his NBA coaching career with the Seattle SuperSonics, working during the era of stars such as Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. He also had stops with the San Diego Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors.
Kloppenburg-Pruitt said basketball became a family language. As a young assistant coach at Winthrop University, she said her grandfather watched games and emailed her suggestions about the team’s defensive schemes.
“He would say, ‘Hey, you guys need to contact switch, and you need to have more ball pressure,’” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “I’m like, ‘Gramps, I literally have no say in what we’re allowed to do.’”
That lifelong exposure to the sport pushed Kloppenburg-Pruitt toward coaching. After Point Loma, she started as a graduate assistant at Winthrop, then held assistant-coaching roles at Arizona State and San Jose State before becoming Southern Oregon’s head coach.
At Southern Oregon, she said she found her identity as an energetic and demanding leader.
“I am energy. I’m going to be intense,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “Once I flipped over from being an assistant to a head coach, it kind of just gave me that, ‘OK, this is my purpose. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.’”
When the PLNU job opening appeared on Instagram after former coach Charity Elliott announced her departure to Texas Christian University, Kloppenburg-Pruitt said she immediately told her husband that she needed to contact Courneya. Although she had not planned to leave Southern Oregon, she viewed PLNU as the one job that could bring her back to Southern California.
Elliott said she did not know Kloppenburg-Pruitt well before the hire, though they shared mutual friends. Still, Elliott said she had heard positive things about the new coach and offered her support as she takes over the program.
“I knew she was a great person and communicated to her my best wishes and that I’m here if I can be of any help at all,” Elliott said. “I’m excited for the season they are going to have.”
Courneya said he oversees the hiring of PLNU’s head coaches, while a committee of staff members assists with the search process for finalists. Kloppenburg-Pruitt, like every applicant, completed the posted application, but Courneya said her vision ultimately distinguished her.
“What ultimately separated Carlotta was her vision for building a championship program that develops the whole person,” Courneya said.
She also brought two coaches she trusted from Southern Oregon: assistant coaches Richard Vasey and Kami Walk. Kloppenburg-Pruitt said the coaches provide complementary strengths and create different avenues of support for players.
“Coach Richard and Coach Kami are just two people that I trust with everything, and they’re just really amazing humans,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “Our players know that they can go to Kami for certain things and they go to Coach Richard for certain things.”
The staff also added former Southern Oregon player, Sage Winslow, after a roster spot opened. Kloppenburg-Pruitt had recruited Winslow since Winslow’s sophomore year in high school and coached her during her freshman season at Southern Oregon.
Winslow said she was drawn to Kloppenburg-Pruitt’s authentic coaching style long before she committed to Southern Oregon.
“Since my first conversations with her, I knew she had winning in her blood and would settle for nothing less,” Winslow said. “She is very defensive-minded and wants to play fast, and that’s pretty much my two favorite things to do.”
Kloppenburg-Pruitt said Winslow’s work ethic, familiarity with the system and ability to support teammates made her the right addition.
“She’s just a relentless worker and an incredible teammate,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “I knew what I was going to get every day from Sage.”
Kloppenburg-Pruitt described her coaching style with three words: “intense, defense and fundamentals.” She wants the Sea Lions to play fast, defend aggressively and become fundamentally sound in every part of the game.
“We, by nature, in our program, are going to play physical,” she said. “We’re going to teach you how to play physical.”
The team’s theme this season is “trust,” reflecting the challenge of installing a new system while integrating new players. Kloppenburg-Pruitt said early practices may include mistakes and growing pains, but the staff wants players to trust the daily process.
Winslow said that same trust is what led her to join Kloppenburg-Pruitt at PLNU.
“Coach CK is extremely authentic,” Winslow said. “She carries values of hard work and commitment that have led to great success, which builds trust.”
Winslow said Kloppenburg-Pruitt’s investment in her as a player and decision to bring her to PLNU demonstrated that trust.
“Her investment in me as a player and to give me this opportunity to continue to play for her proves the amount of trust she has in me as a player,” Winslow said. “I trust her indefinitely as a coach.”
The same leadership Courneya noticed during Kloppenburg-Pruitt’s playing career remains evident in her new role, he said. Now, he sees a coach who has expanded her knowledge of the game while building relationships throughout the team.
“She continues to display her leadership skills just in a different role now, of course, as the head coach,” Courneya said. “She has expanded on her knowledge of the game and does a great job building relationships with all members of the team.”
The goal is to make the Sea Lions difficult to play against while building a team culture centered on togetherness and mental toughness.
“I want them to be able to go to each other for anything and everything,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “Toughness also to me is being mentally tough, paying attention when you’re supposed to pay attention, just being all in where you are.”
For Kloppenburg-Pruitt, returning to PLNU is not only a professional opportunity. She said the university’s Christian community, the chance to involve her family and the opportunity to invest in student-athletes make the job especially meaningful.
“I was poured into here,” Kloppenburg-Pruitt said. “It’s just like a dream for me to be able to come back and do the same thing.”
