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Cleaveland to be next SMHS boys basketball coach
By Carey Phillips and Samantha Blanton
A coach one year removed from winning a state championship is coming home to try and revive Smoky Mountain High School’s men’s basketball program.
Jimmy Cleaveland, who led the Pisgah Bears to an undefeated season and state 2-A title in 2005, is the new Mustangs’ coach. He inherits a program that has had losing records in 12 of the last 13 seasons and replaces Scott Hartbarger, who resigned after going 74-146 in nine years.
Cleaveland is a 1985 graduate of Sylva-Webster High School, where he played football and basketball. The 1985 basketball team won conference and sectional championships and played in the Western Regionals. As a junior, he was a member of the Golden Eagle football team that was undefeated until the state semifinals.
Jimmy Cleaveland, Smoky Mountain High School’s new basketball coach, conducts his first workout with his new team Monday (June 12). Superintendent Sue Nations conditionally hired Cleaveland, who lead the Pisgah Bears to the 2-A state championship, on Friday; school board approval is expected during a special meeting today (Thursday). – Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
The 39-year-old Cleaveland received his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Western Carolina University in 1990. He is about to receive a master’s degree in school administration from Gardner-Webb.
“This is home. I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to come home,” Cleaveland said. “It is a great opportunity; I’m excited about it.”
Cleaveland said he would not be where he is today without such Sylva-Webster coaches as Babe Howell, Gene McConnell and Lionel Brooks
“I am going to try to do the same thing I did at Pisgah here. I expect the commitment to start today,” Cleaveland said.
Cleaveland posted a 126-30 record in six years at Pisgah, his only previous job as a head coach. He was an assistant at Brevard for six years and then a Pisgah assistant for three years before becoming head coach at the Canton school.
He was named the Associated Press State Coach of the Year after their perfect season in 2005.
The Bears were also undefeated during the 2005-06 regular season. They had a 51-game winning streak that ended, ironically, at the SMHS gym when they were upset by Brevard in the finals of February’s Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
“We’re not going to let that happen anymore,” he said of losing a game on the Mustangs’‚ home court.
Cleaveland had to give up coaching when he became an assistant principal at Pisgah. (Haywood County does not allow assistant principals to be head coaches.) At that time, he wasn’t sure whether his coaching days were over, he said.
After Cleaveland’s friend, Rosman Coach Mick Galloway, turned down the position here and the coaching search was re-opened, Cleaveland decided to pursue the job. The opportunity to coach in the same gym where he played high school ball as well as be an administrator was enough to lure him back into coaching, he said. (Sylva-Webster and Cullowhee combined to form Smoky Mountain in 1988.)
Although his job at Pisgah isn’t over yet, Cleaveland is doing double duty. He conducted a workout Monday afternoon at the SM gym with 21 players on hand.
Cleaveland will face his former team at least twice in the coming season with the first meeting set for Canton. It could be an emotional night for the coach and his former players.
“I’ve been through a lot with those kids, but it’s something I probably won’t even think about until the night before,” he said. “I know I’ll want to beat them just like they’ll want to beat me.”
Along with his coaching responsibilities, Cleaveland will be assistant principal at the School of Alternatives, which is also called The Hub. As a high school assistant principal, Cleaveland will be paid based on 12 months employment as are the assistant administrators at SMHS and Blue Ridge, Nations said.
The superintendent was authorized by school board members to conditionally hire Cleaveland, she said. Formal approval is expected at the school board meeting tonight (Thursday).
“I am very pleased with this hire. Everyone has good things to say about Jimmy Cleaveland. We’re happy he is coming on board,” Nations said.
School administration runs in Cleaveland’s family. His father, the late Ray Cleaveland, retired as superintendent of Cherokee Indian Schools. His sister, Raylene Bryson, is an assistant principal at Smoky Mountain.
“I am excited about him coming to coach at Smoky Mountain. He is a quality person and a quality coach,” said SMHS Principal Alex Bell, who was Cleaveland’s JV basketball coach.
In addition to his administrative and coaching responsibilities, Cleaveland will also teach one class of “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” physical education at Smoky Mountain for mainly basketball players, Bell said.
“I am elated to have a coach of his caliber working with our kids. It is a great opportunity for the kids to learn. I think it will be a great match,” SMHS Athletic Director Mutt DeGraffenreid said.
Cleaveland is married to the former Lisa Bryson of Waynesville They live in Clyde and have two children, 8-year-old Anna and 3-year-old Clay.
His mother, Vivian Cleaveland, lives in Sylva.
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