Early coaching career (1951–1958) In the 1951–52 season, Kloppenburg was junior varsity coach for Fresno State. The following season, Kloppenburg was head coach at Lindsay High School at
Lindsay, California. At Lindsay, Kloppenburg emphasized defense and ball control in a coaching style inspired by
Hank Iba and
Pete Newell. Kloppenburg returned to Southern California to be head coach at
Victor Valley High School in
Victorville, California beginning in 1953–54. In 1956, Kloppenburg became head coach at
Paramount High School in
Paramount, California. Although Paramount had a strong interior defense, Kloppenburg adapted his defensive coaching to compete against teams like
Compton High School that specialized in jump shooting. In 19 seasons at California Western/U.S. International, Kloppenburg had a cumulative 322–192 record from 1958 to 1978 with
NAIA tournament appearances in
1963,
1965,
1966, and
1975. Kloppenburg led Donar to a 19–17 record. After one final season at U.S. International in 1977–78, in which the team went 12–15, Kloppenburg left for the second and final time due to what he believed were inferior facilities that affected recruiting. On December 3, 1981, Kloppenburg became interim head coach for the Cavaliers after the firing of head coach
Don Delaney. Kloppenburg went 0–3 as interim coach before
Chuck Daly formally took over. The team finished the season 15–67 under four different head coaches. After leaving the Cavaliers, Kloppenburg was a scout for the
San Diego Clippers in 1982–83 and
Washington Bullets in 1983–84. In 1984–85, Kloppenburg was an assistant coach at
UNLV under
Jerry Tarkanian. UNLV went 28–4 and qualified for the second round of the
NCAA tournament. After UNLV, Kloppenburg returned to the NBA for a second stint as assistant coach for the SuperSonics that lasted from 1985 to 1995 under head coaches
Bernie Bickerstaff,
K. C. Jones, and
George Karl. Prior to the 1995–96 season, Kloppenburg reunited with Bickerstaff as an assistant coach for the
Denver Nuggets for one season. Kloppenburg's final coaching job was with the
Toronto Raptors in 1997–98. ==Coaching style==