Timothy Michael Cluess (born March 9, 1959) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who most recently was the head men's basketball coach at

Iona College Iona University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochell ...

. He is also a former head coach of Long Island University–C.W. Post.

College playing career

Born in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Cluess played college basketball at St. John's (1979–81) and Hofstra (1982–83).

Professional playing career

Cluess played professionally in Europe and Australia.

Coaching career

High school

Cluess was the head coach of Saint Mary's High School in

Manhasset, New York Manhasset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York. It is considered the anchor communi ...

for 14 seasons (1991–2005). Cluess's Gaels won four Class A New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association (NYSCHSAA) championships and two New York State Federation of Secondary Schools Athletic Associations (NYSFSSA) championships. However, St. Mary's played in the Class A Division, and failed to advance past the New York City representative from the much stronger Class AA Division each time they attempted to advance for the right to play in the New York State Class AA Federation Tournament. In 2004–05, Saint Mary's posted a 25–1 overall record. The lone loss came against a New York City team, Xaverian, from the class AA Division as St. Mary's once again failed to advance past New York City in the Class AA Division.

College

Cluess’ first college coaching job was the 2005–06

Suffolk County Community College Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) is a public community college in Selden, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system and is funded in part by Suffolk County, New York. Suffolk County Community College was ...

team that finished with a regular season record of 20–9. They appeared in their first

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Division III tournament that year, winning their first two games before being eliminated in their third game and finishing the season at 22–10. After one year at the junior college level, Cluess became the head coach for the

Long Island University C.W. Post Campus LIU Post (formally, the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and often referred to as C.W. Post) is a private university in Brookville, New York. It is the largest campus of the private Long Island University system. The campus is nam ...

Pioneers. He led the team to three straight first-place finishes in the

East Coast Conference The East Coast Conference (ECC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of C ...

, including two conference tournament titles in 2007–08 and 2008–09. In four seasons at LIU-Post, Cluess led the team to two

NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament (officially styled by the NCAA as a "Championship" instead of a "Tournament") is an annual championship tournament for colleges and universities that are members of NCAA Division II, a grouping of ...

s in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. The 2008–09 squad finished the regular season with a record of 24–0, in route to an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

Elite Eight tournament appearance and a 30–1 final record. In April 2010 Cluess replaced

Kevin Willard Kevin Schreiber Willard (born April 6, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland. Willard played basketball at Western Kentucky during the 1992–93 season (his freshm ...

as the head men's basketball coach at

. Cluess' record in nine seasons at Iona was 199–108. Just before the 2019–20 pre-season, Cluess took a leave of absence to deal with personal health issues, and associate head coach Tra Arnold took over head coaching duties for the season. On March 13, 2020, Cluess stepped down from Iona due to his health issues.

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

was named to replace Cluess as head coach the next day.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

External links

Iona profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cluess, Tim 1959 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in New York (state) Hofstra Pride men's basketball players Iona Gaels men's basketball coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States LIU Post Pioneers men's basketball coaches Small forwards Sportspeople from Queens, New York St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players