Steven Cornell Cleveland (born February 4, 1952) is a former 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. He had been men's head basketball head coach at

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

, and

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

Early life and education

Cleveland was born in Los Angeles County and raised in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. He attended Herbert Hoover High School in Fresno, then began his college basketball career at

before going on a mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1971 to 1973. Cleveland returned to Fresno City College in the 1973–74 season, after which he was named the team's Most Outstanding Player and transferred to

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** ''University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the t ...

. At UC Irvine, Cleveland played at forward. He averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds as a junior in 1974–75 and 15.0 points and 5.5 rebounds as a senior in 1975–76. Cleveland graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor's degree in social science in 1976 and later completed a master's in education administration from

Fresno Pacific University Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. The university awarded its first Bac ...

in 1979.

Coaching career

High school and junior college

From 1980 to 1990, Cleveland was varsity boys' basketball head coach at

Clovis West High School Clovis West High School (CWHS) is a co-educational, public high school part of the Clovis Unified School District in the well-established suburban community in northeast Fresno, California. It was founded in 1976, and has grades 9-12. Clovis West ...

and went 180–70 in those ten seasons. At Clovis West, Cleveland also taught U.S. government and economics. Cleveland returned to Fresno City College to be men's basketball head coach. From 1990 to 1997, Cleveland went 157–77 with a Central Valley Conference championship in 1997 and

CCCAA The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

Tournament appearances every year. Among players he coached at Fresno City were

Rafer Alston Rafer Jamel Alston (born July 24, 1976), also known as Skip to my Lou or Skip 2 My Lou, is an American retired professional basketball player. Alston first gained basketball fame playing in the AND1 Mixtape Tour in 1999 before making the National ...

, who would go on to play in the NBA.

BYU

Cleveland moved up to the major college level in 1997 as head coach at

. He inherited a team that had just suffered a 1–25 season, the worst in school history. In his first season, BYU finished 9–21 in 1997–98. BYU improved to 22–11 in 1999–2000, BYU's first season in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

(MW) and made the NIT quarterfinals. The following season, BYU won the MW Tournament after splitting the regular season title and made the NCAA tournament. BYU then made the 2002 NIT and NCAA Tournaments of 2003 and 2004 and again was MW co-champion in 2003. The MW also awarded Cleveland with Coach of the Year honors in 2003. BYU fell to 9–21 in 2004–05, Cleveland's final season.

Fresno State

On April 9, 2005,

hired Cleveland as men's basketball head coach. Cleveland's hiring followed the resignation of previous head coach Ray Lopes. In 2006, due to recruiting violations under Lopes's watch, the NCAA issued a

show-cause penalty In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a show-cause penalty is an administrative punishment ordering that any NCAA penalties imposed on a coach found to have committed major rules violations will stay in effect against that coach fo ...

to Lopes and placed Fresno State men's basketball on five years of probation. Also, Cleveland inherited a program whose

Academic Progress Rate The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a measure introduced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the nonprofit association that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, ...

(APR) was 611, the worst in the nation. Cleveland went 92–98 in six seasons at Fresno State. In his first two seasons, Fresno State finished 8–8 and 10–6 in

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

(WAC) play, and Fresno State's only postseason appearance in his tenure was in the NIT. The 2006–07 team also featured Dominic McGuire, a transfer from Cal who became a second-round 2007 NBA draft pick. The team APR also improved to 928 by the end of his tenure.

Post-coaching career

On March 17, 2011, Cleveland stepped down from coaching to assume an administrative post in the Fresno State athletic department. Later that year, Cleveland took a position as an analyst for BYUtv Sports. In 2013, he began a three-year term as a

mission president Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A mission president presides over a geographic area known as a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission. Depending o ...

for

in the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.

Head coaching record

Junior college

Source:

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland, Steve 1952 births Living people Basketball coaches from California Latter Day Saints from California American men's basketball players BYU Cougars men's basketball announcers BYU Cougars men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Fresno City Rams men's basketball players Fresno Pacific University alumni Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Mission presidents (LDS Church) Place of birth missing (living people) UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball players Basketball players from Fresno, California High school basketball coaches in California American Mormon missionaries in England Forwards (basketball)