Klempa Eager To Continue NU Bowling Tradition

When Paul Klempa was 4 years old, his father worked in a bowling center pro shop, his mother ran the snack bar and his uncle served as the head mechanic in charge of lanes.
 
Klempa, as he became older, would keep score for both his father and uncle, who both competed in bowling leagues. Klempa's sister would later marry the bowling center owner's son, who was good friends with Klempa's parents.
 
"It was a big family affair," Klempa said, in answering a question about how he became interested in bowling.
 
By age 10, Klempa was taking bowling lessons from Jack Eaton, the same person who taught his father and uncle how to bowl. He lettered all four years in high school bowling, and bowled his first perfect game in 1987.
 
A New York native, Klempa bowled at a community college for two years. He accepted a $150 scholarship to bowl on a club team at Nebraska, a school he chose, sight unseen, based on a flier his community college coach provided him, and a phone conversation with its coach, Bill Straub.
 
Klempa landed in Lincoln on a Sunday night in January 1992 and began classes the next day, which marked the first time he'd ever set foot on Nebraska's campus. Four years later, Straub asked Klempa to be his assistant coach on the women's team as it prepared to become a part of the Nebraska Athletic Department in 1997.
 
Klempa agreed, and he never left.

Oh, he's had about a half dozen opportunities, over the years, to coach elsewhere, he said. But the timing and fit never seemed right for Klempa, his wife and two sons.

"I ended up saying it's better to stay here," he said.

Good call.

Today, Klempa is in charge of the varsity program he'd help Straub begin, and he couldn't be happier.
 
"It's kind of surreal," Klempa said. "It's really hard to believe it's actually true, because when you start, you don't have thoughts of taking over the program and becoming the head coach. You're just doing your job."
 
Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos promoted Klempa to replace Straub, who announced his retirement in August after coaching at Nebraska since 1983.
 
"It's amazing," Klempa said. "I'm thrilled. Every day, I'm thrilled to be in this position."
 
Much of what Klempa learned about bowling, and teaching and coaching it, he learned from Straub.
 
"He's an excellent technician on the physical game of bowling," he said. "He's really good at seeing, watching you throw the ball and telling you what you're doing right and wrong and how to fix those issues. He's amazing that way.
 
"He taught me the difference between coaching and teaching, and how teaching is teaching someone to do a sport. Coaching involves so much more than the physical activity. It involves the psychology, emotional and mental things that go into coaching."
 
Straub had led the Nebraska men's and women's club teams to a combined five national titles before the women began competing for – and winning – NCAA Championships in 2004.
 
"That's one of the reasons Bill Byrne added us," Klempa said, referring to the former Nebraska Athletic Director. "We were already successful, and he knew we would be a relatively turnkey operation. We already had a facility on campus, he built us some offices, gave us a budget, and it wouldn't be that difficult to add women's bowling."
 
Klempa emphasizes that Straub laid the groundwork.
 
"I can't take any credit for that, and I won't," he said. "Now, from the time we got into athletics, yeah, that was a change, that was different. It took some time for us to get used to recruiting under those (NCAA) rules, because we could do things so much differently before."
 
Women's bowling had 19 teams nationally when Nebraska began competing on the varsity level in 1997, and the NCAA said that number would need to be 40 before it would sanction a national championship tournament. By 2003, the number indeed reached 40, and in 2004, the first NCAA Tournament took place.
 
Nebraska won it, and the next one, too. Klempa credits Straub for a wise personnel decision in helping the Huskers to their first two of seven NCAA titles. He redshirted his best bowler, Shannon Pluhowsky, after her sophomore season, knowing that would allow her to compete in the first two NCAA Tournaments, rather than one.
 
"That," Klempa said, "was a smart decision."
 
Pluhowsky, a three-time national bowler of the year, and arguably the most decorated player in Nebraska's history, is joining Klempa's staff as an assistant coach.
 
Nebraska, the only program that's qualified for every NCAA Tournament, will also enjoy renovated facilities after it begins a new era under Klempa.
 
Beginning in the spring, the Athletic Department will renovate the entire bowling center on East Campus, clearing the lanes, pinsetters, approaches, ball returns, scoring, "all the way to the concrete," Klempa said, and start with new equipment.
 
Next to those lanes will be renovated offices, a pro shop, and remodeled players' lounge and locker room and bathrooms. The project is set for completion in October 2020.
 
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.