CHARLESTON, S.C. – Kathy Kroupa, an administrator with nearly 25 years of collegiate experience, has been hired as The Citadel's Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator, Athletic Director Jim Senter announced Tuesday.

"We are very excited to welcome Kathy Kroupa to The Citadel family," Senter said. "Kathy is a perfect fit for our athletic department and brings a wealth of experience to our athletic executive team. Her skills and experiences from her background as a former student-athlete at Gettysburg, as well as sitting head softball coach and senior women's administrator at Susquehanna University will serve us well as she supervises coaches and their respective sports."

Kroupa has served since 2009 as Susquehanna's senior woman administrator, adding administrative duties to her responsibilities as head softball coach. In that role, she was the department's compliance coordinator, academic coordinator, oversaw athletic training and equipment operations and served as the sport administrator for women's golf and cheerleading. She developed the department's student-athlete handbook, advising SAAC from 2011-13, and a professional development program for interns in the department. Her tasks also included serving on the conference's subcommittee for SWAs, being an NCAA regional representative for the softball and women's soccer tournaments and being tournament director for men's soccer and women's volleyball tournaments.

Kroupa was involved in campus leadership at Susquehanna as well. She served on the student engagement and retention committee, diversity advisory board, sexual assault student support program and university policy management group.

"Kathy has a passion for the cadet-athlete experience and is ready to devote all of her time and attention to the administrative side of her career," Senter said. "We were looking for a person who would embrace the unique experiences that The Citadel offers in educating and developing principled leaders for all walks of life and found that in Kathy."

Kroupa began her time at Susquehanna in 2001 when she was a part-time women's soccer coach. She began her tenure as head softball coach in 2002 and in 13 seasons led the Crusaders to a 360-251-1 record that included the program's first Landmark Conference title in 2013. That season, the team earned a program-record 40 wins and the school's second NCAA Tournament appearance. Kroupa and her staff were named Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year six times, including four straight from 2012-15.

While serving as head softball coach, Kroupa handled numerous other duties within the department. She served as assistant soccer coach from 2001-06, interim director of recreation from 2005-06 and head women's soccer coach from 2006-10. In 2009, she moved into administration as CHAMPS Life Skills Coordinator and SWA.

"I am extremely honored to be joining The Citadel," Kroupa said. "This is a great opportunity and I am excited to utilize my experiences as a coach and administrator to contribute to the athletic department during an exciting time in its history. I look forward to working with Jim Senter and the rest of the team as we work to build successful programs and develop cadet-athletes into principled leaders."

She began her career in collegiate athletics with an internship in the athletic academic office at Virginia Tech in 1996, providing study hall monitoring, academic counseling and orientation programs for incoming student-athletes. She also worked as a graduate assistant at the Radford University Counseling Center to provide academic, career and personal counseling to undergraduate students from 1995-97.

Her first coaching job was as head softball coach at Rosemont College for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The Ravens improved from 1-20 in 1997 to 23-13 in her second year. She then was hired as head softball coach and assistant women's soccer coach at Franklin and Marshall College, where she led the softball team to 38 wins in three seasons.

A native of Weston, Connecticut, Kroupa was a four-year starter at first base for Gettysburg College and earned first-team Centennial Conference honors as a senior. She also was a goalkeeper for Gettysburg and set school career records for wins, shutouts, save percentage, saves and saves per game. She is set to be inducted into the Gettysburg Hall of Honor in October.

She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Gettysburg in 1995 and completed her master's degree in counseling psychology from Radford in 1998.


What They're Saying About Kathy Kroupa
"Kathy has served SU extremely well, both as a coach and administrator. She made a very significant impact in her tenure and will be missed across campus. This is a wonderful opportunity for Kathy to further develop as an administrator, and I wish her well at The Citadel. They are fortunate to have her on staff." – Pamela S. Samuelson, Susquehanna University Director of Athletics

"Kathy is an extremely focused, hard-working individual that never turned down a task here with our student-athletes. She is bright and very easy to work with. Without question, her leaving Susquehanna is a huge loss for us but a great gain for The Citadel." – Steve Briggs, Susquehanna University Advancement Officer, former Head Football Coach