:''Steve is a nickname for "Stephen". For the president, see Stephen Cleveland.'' Steven Cornell Cleveland (born February 4, 1952) is an American former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He had been men's head basketball head coach at Fresno City College, BYU, and Fresno State.

Early life and education

Cleveland was born in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

and raised in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. He attended Herbert Hoover High School in Fresno, then began his college basketball career at Fresno City College 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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

. 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 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 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 Tournament appearances every year. Among players he coached at Fresno City were Rafer Alston, who would go on to play in the NBA.

BYU

Cleveland moved up to the major college level in 1997 as head coach at BYU. 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 a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(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 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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, Fresno State 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 to Lopes and placed Fresno State men's basketball on five years of probation. Also, Cleveland inherited a program whose Academic Progress Rate (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, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(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 Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

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 (LDS Church), 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 (LDS Church), mission and the M ...

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) 20th-century American sportsmen