Dave Krakoff made a phone call earlier this month to Woodland Hills High School football coach and athletic director George Novak. Krakoff never envisioned how the conversation would end.

"I called George to recommend someone for their basketball opening, because I had someone in mind who I really thought would be a great fit," Krakoff said. "But then we started talking ... "

And before that conversation ended, Krakoff became the perfect fit.

Krakoff, 36, was named last week as Woodland Hills' new junior high school assistant principal and varsity boys' basketball coach. In the coaching portion of the job, he replaces Aaron Tipton, who resigned after last season.

A former coach at West Allegheny and Pine-Richland, Krakoff -- who is married with three sons and a daughter, all younger than 8 -- spent the past school year as an administrator for special projects at the Villages Charter School in Florida and assisted with a variety of programs, including athletics.

But for the Keystone Oaks graduate, the Orlando, Fla., area wasn't like living in Western Pennsylvania and when the Woodland Hills job(s) came open, Krakoff jumped at the opportunity.

"I have to be honest, we didn't expect to move to Florida and come back after one year," he said. "We liked the Orlando area; there were a lot of opportunities for families and so much for us to do. Also, the experience at the school was great because I had my hand in so much from an administration standpoint. I was involved in athletics, food service, teaching, learning and a strategic plan. But, I really missed the WPIAL more than I thought I would. I missed all the traditions and it ended up where I had a strong ambition to get back here."

And now, he has a strong ambition to make Woodland Hills a winner in basketball -- just like the football program at the school.

Woodland Hills won just one WPIAL Section 2-AAAA game last season and finished 4-18 overall. The year before that, the Wolverines were 4-19. They were 5-19 in 2007.

As another barometer of the team's recent basketball futility, consider this: Woodland Hills has not had a winning season since 2002-03, going 13-11 that year but not making the playoffs.

But with all the recent shortcomings, there is a tradition of sorts with the program. The schools that came together to form Woodland Hills have won 13 WPIAL basketball championships, a statistic not lost on Krakoff.

"I look at it a lot like when I took the job at West Allegheny," Krakoff said. "There is a challenge to change the culture of basketball and to get people to understand that we can do it, I know we can and they should understand that we can."

And how does a new coach go about doing that?

"One of the first things that we need to do is unify the program," Krakoff said. "From kids in first grade and third grade and all the way down to that level, you need to make them understand they are part of one organization, which runs all the way up to the varsity team. From a terminology standpoint and fundamentals and just a general way of doing things, we need to make sure it is uniform all the way through. I have learned that is the way to build a program."

Also, having some really good players doesn't hurt.

That said, Krakoff was invited by Novak soon after taking the job to talk to the football players about their interest in trying out for the basketball team.

Krakoff understands some portion of his team's success will be making sure the best athletes at the school -- who so often have been the football players at Woodland Hills -- also decide to try out for the basketball squad.

"I want every athlete at Woodland Hills, who can help the basketball program, to play basketball if he wants to," Krakoff said. "This is a place that has a great athletic tradition in a lot of sports and I know that we can make basketball something positive here and help build that tradition back up."