Once familiarity tugged at Holly Hoopingarner, there was no looking back for the former Greenwood and IUPUI basketball standout.
Hoopingarner, who turns 24 on Saturday, is back on the downtown Indianapolis campus as a first-year assistant for Jaguars women’s coach Austin Parkinson.
She spent the 2020-21 season working as a graduate assistant at the University at Florida under coach Cam Newbauer, who cited personal reasons when resigning in July after four years on the job.
By then, Hoopingarner had already applied to return to IUPUI, where she scored over 1,000 career points and led the Jags to the Horizon League tournament championship as a senior point guard.
Hoopingarner’s stay in Gainesville was supposed to be two years. She admits she would have remained in Gainesville had her alma mater not had a coaching vacancy.
“Coach P had an opening on his staff, and I applied for it,” she said. “I was home anyway during June to spend time with family and went through the whole interviewing process.
“I was joking that I felt like a freshman again. There was some nervousness to it.”
Hoopingarner, who scored 1,614 career points and was an Indiana All-Star for the Woodmen before helping lead the Jaguars to an 89-39 record in her time as a player, started her new job July 1. She thoroughly enjoys recruiting for IUPUI, as it allows her to utilize her knows-no-strangers personality while reconnecting with high school and AAU coaches she’s known for years.
Additional responsibilities include helping develop the current point guards on the Jaguars roster and reaching out to former members of the women’s basketball program in an effort to keep them involved.
Parkinson, who sensed Hoopingarner’s vast coaching potential from the start of her freshman season at IUPUI (2016-17), appreciates the many ways in which she benefits the Jaguars.
“Holly was at Florida, and I thought it might be a couple more years before she came back,” said Parkinson, who has assembled a 200-136 record in 10 seasons. “She knows our system and the people in the Indianapolis area are familiar with her. Our players oftentimes saw her as a coach when she was playing here.
“Obviously, as a player she had the reputation as a leader, and Holly’s personality is that she wants to learn. Wants to grow. I think she’s going to be a tremendous coach in our business, and we would prefer to have her here sooner rather than later.”
Hoopingarner’s lone season at Florida as a student assistant resulted in the Gators finishing 12-14 and 3-11 in the Southeastern Conference. Former associate head coach Kelly Rae Finley was named interim head coach there not long after Newbauer resigned.
Despite the many friendships made at Florida, Hoopingarner doesn’t mind that her winters are about to again become quite a bit colder.
“It was great. I think it was good for me to see how a different coaching staff does things, and I met a lot of good people,” Hoopingarner said. “I would’ve gone back had I not gotten this job because coach Finley and I are good friends.
“For me, it’s always been about building relationships. Obviously, I played with half of these (IUPUI) players, but they were already accustomed to hearing my voice, so it’s been an easy transition.”
