Chris Huppenthal began teaching and coaching at Hamilton Southeastern High School in the 2005-06 season, although he has been a girls basketball head coach since 1995.

Huppenthal led HSE to two straight sectional championships in his first two years coaching the Lady Royals in 2006 and 2007. He also won a regional championship his first season coaching at Hamilton Southeastern. Along with those three accolades in his first two years coaching the Royals, he added a state title to his name in 2019.

Under the leadership of Huppenthal, HSE has won eight Hoosier Crossroads Conference (HCC) championships. Additionally, Huppenthal has won HCC Coach of the Year six times during his time with the Royals.

Huppenthal is a member of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) and the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association (ICGSA), although he does not hold an office in the latter.

The long-tenured girls basketball head coach was originally a computer science major at Purdue University, but he switched his major to education after learning that he liked to communicate with people more than he was with his computer science major.

Huppenthal’s coaching philosophy has mainly stayed the same over his long coaching career.

“I think there’s three things you’re looking for in kids,” Huppenthal said. “You’re looking for effort, a commitment, as well as talent. I think somewhere along the line you’ve got to put those in order and decide what’s important.”

The state champion coach values commitment the most. He believes kids “need to be committed to what they’re about to do.”

Huppenthal believes that what makes the Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball program unique is the kids that are involved in it.

“The kids that come in are willing to go ahead and make the sacrifices [and] the commitment [and] put forth the effort,” Huppenthal said.

Despite being a highly successful girls basketball coach, Huppenthal never played basketball. He both coached and played football and baseball, however.