Kroupa Assistant Takes Over Whitnall Basketball

Steve Kujawa, who has coached basketball for nearly two decades, has replaced Kent Kroupa as the Whitnall boys basketball coach.

The hiring committee chosen to find a replacement for longtime successful varsity boys basketball coach Kent Kroupa did not have to look too far. In fact, they just had to look to Kroupa’s bench. Steve Kujawa, a history teacher and longtime Kroupa assistant, was chosen last week to take over a program Kroupa manned for 20 years. “It’s an honor, it really is, to follow in the footsteps of Kent Kroupa, who has been absolutely phenomenal not just from a wins-loss perspective, but for his work in the community and how he built relationships with the student-athletes.” Kujawa said he would bring that same philosophy to his coaching reign, focusing on molding solid citizens first, with the wins hopefully in tow. Kujawa got his start in New …

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Longtime Whitnall Basketball Coach Kent Kroupa Retires

Kroupa told athletic director Rick Elertson on Tuesday that he was finished after coaching the Falcons for 20 years.

Updated 12:50 p.m. Tuesday Kent Kroupa has always trusted his gut and his heart. And this week, both told him it was time to step away from the Whitnall boys basketball program after 20 years as head coach. “It’s been a privilege and honor to coach at Whitnall,” Kroupa told Patch Tuesday afternoon. “Whitnall will never leave me. When you’re involved with something so long, it’s always going to be a part of me. You do it so long, it’s part of your blood.” Kroupa was a special education teacher at Whitnall for 32 years. He spent 20 of those coaching the boys basketball program, including three seasons that ended at the state tournament. His 1988 squad won the WIAA Division 1 championship. He also coached basketball for eight years at Muskego…

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Father-Son Bond Strengthened Through Basketball

Kent and Craig Kroupa have coached together for three years at Whitnall.

During his first season as a starting point guard on the Muskego boys varsity basketball team, Craig Kroupa didn’t yet have his driver’s license. He needed a ride home from practices and games during the 1999-2000 season. Every day, he'd climb into the passenger seat of his dad's car, glance to his left and see his head coach sitting right beside him.  The coach — Kent Kroupa — was also Craig's dad. “Some rides home were better than others,” Craig joked earlier this week. Craig, now 28, played three seasons for his dad on the varsity team, as did his older brother Brad, 30, during Kent’s eight-year tenure with the Warriors, sandwiched between runs at Whitnall High School. For the last three seasons, Craig has rejoined his father, this time…

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Falcons' Season Finale in Photos

Battling to the bitter end, Whitnall could not stop Pius in a sectional semifinal Thursday.

Greenfield High School was packed to capacity with fans on hand to witness the Pius Popes take on the Whitnall Falcons on Thursday night. Fans anticipated a close game and that is was, however, Pius won the opening tip and held a lead for most of the night en route to a 66-62 win that ended the Falcons season two victories shy of the state tournament. Pius will play Milwaukee Washington at 2 p.m. Saturday at West Allis Central in the sectional final.

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Scouting Report: Falcons Prepared for Popes' Two-Man Show

Whitnall and Pius play in a sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday.

If the Whitnall Falcons need a blueprint as to how to beat their sectional semifinal foe – the Pius XI Popes – they need to look no further than the Mukwonago Indians. The Indians handed the Popes two of their three losses, mostly by playing a zone defense which kept University of Wisconsin-Green Bay recruit Carrington Love, Pius’ point guard, getting in the lane and creating shots for his teammates. So if the top-seeded Falcons (22-2) want to the second-seeded Popes (21-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Greenfield High School, they need only to replicate Mukwonago’s zone defense, right? In theory, maybe. But there’s one catch. “I don’t know how to teach a zone,” Whitnall coach Kent Kroupa said. “Never played zone in my life. We’ll play a man-to-…

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Falcons Breeze Through Regional with Blowout Victory

The Whitnall boys basketball team had no trouble with New Berlin West, downing the Vikigns, 69-49.

If seniors Bryan Nagy and Stephen Pelkofer delivered a 1-2 punch that put the New Berlin West Vikings on their heels, it was Ian Ray who delivered the blow that turned out the Vikings’ light. Ray drilled three 3-pointers in a 2 ½-minute stretch in the third quarter to give the Falcons an insurmountable third-quarter lead in route to a 69-49 win over the Vikings at home in a WIAA Division 2 regional final. “He busted it open,” Whitnall coach Kent Kroupa said. “He created the separation that we needed. He makes those couple and West kind of goes, ‘Oh man, this is going to be an uphill climb.’” The top-seeded Falcons (22-2) advanced to Thursday’s sectional semifinal at Greenfield High School where they will play second-seeded Pius (21-3) at 7…

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Whitnall Hopes Historic Regular Season Carries Over to Tournament

The Falcons boys basketball team hosts Catholic Memorial at 7 p.m. Friday.

Kent Kroupa has been around the game of basketball long enough to collect more than 350 high school coaching victories, including in excess of 300 at Whitnall High School. He’s taken three of his teams to the state tournament and brought home the school’s only boys hoops title in 1988. But never has a Kroupa-coached team had as much success in the regular season as the 2011-12 Falcons, who begin the WIAA postseason Friday night after winning 20 of 22 contests over the first three-plus months of the season. “Any time you win 20 games it’s an exceptional season,” Kroupa said. “It definitely, realistically and honestly far exceeded any expectations I had. I knew we would have a good year. I knew we would be in contention with Eisenhower and …

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Whitnall Basketball Star Pelkofer Earns College Scholarship

The senior shooting guard will play at Northern Michigan next season.