Photo courtesy of John Chappetto
Outgoing MV men’s basketball head coach John Chappetto enjoys his time with assistant coaches Kyle Huppe and Aaron Green. Huppe was just named Chappetto’s replacement.
By Mohammed Jbara, Freelance Contributor, and Nick Stulga, Editor-in-Chief
A new coach will be drawing up plays for Moraine’s basketball team next season.
Kyle Huppe is set to replace head coach John Chappetto, who stepped down after this season so he could better manage his full-time teaching job at Richards High School. Chappetto also wanted to give Huppe or assistant coach Aaron Green a shot at the job.
“I got called in by the athletic director, and a couple other people in the office, and they said what a great job I did as an assistant,” Huppe said. “They asked me if I wanted to keep the program going in the same direction, and the rest was history.”
Chappetto has coached basketball for 30 years. Huppe was one of his players during his stint as assistant coach at Saint Xavier University. Chappetto encouraged Huppe to come to Moraine and coach.
“Coach Chappetto has been a great mentor of mine for 10 years now, both as a player and coaching with him,” Huppe said. “He’s the kind of coach that every player loves. He loves you a ton outside of practices and games, and then as a player he tries to get the best out of you.”
After Huppe’s time at Saint Xavier, he went on to be a varsity assistant at St. James Academy near Kansas City, and then a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech University, according to his profile on the Cyclone’s website.
Chappetto got into coaching because of his father, who helped coach him in many sports. He played basketball in grammar school, but was too short to make the Brother Rice team, especially with 120 kids trying out.
Regardless, he felt the path towards coaching was the right one.
“It felt like it was a natural fit to continue on in education and athletics,” Chappetto said.
Chappetto’s goal coming to Moraine was to continue the success the team had under the previous coach and athletic director Bill Finn. He initially doubted his ability to keep the team afloat, but looking back, he feels better about his input. His teams won conference in both his first and last year as a coach.
“I wanted to not screw up the success Moraine has had,” Chappetto said. “Leaving there, I’ve left it in pretty good shape.”
After observing the team’s success last year, Huppe looks to keep the momentum going.
Now it’s his turn, and I’ll be rooting for him, for sure.”
Former MV men’s basketball coach John Chappetto
“We want to win, simple as that,” Huppe said. “I think if we all work together and have a common goal of trying to bring another conference championship, there’s nothing that can stop us.”
Huppe’s plan for the upcoming season is to focus on the offseason. He wants players to think of it as an on-season instead. “This is the time where you need to be working on your game, not to take a break,” he said to his returning players. “Let’s lift, get stronger, and just keep playing.”
Chappetto sees a bit of himself reflected in Huppe and is hoping Huppe and Green can overcome some of the hurdles Chappetto could not, including having more time to build the team up.
“Now it’s his turn, and I’ll be rooting for him, for sure,” Chappetto said.
The team takes an end-of-year photo after winning the conference championship last season. John Chappetto ended up winning conference both his first and last year as head coach.
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