All About Coach Cleve

Coach Cleve Harris has had an illustrious career in basketball in the
state of Tennessee. Born in Somerville, TN, Cleve prepped at East High School
in Memphis, where he was voted All-District and All-Region in 10th, 11th, and 12th
grades. He averaged 24 points as a senior, while being named to the
All-State team. His record high in scoring was 43 points in one game.
From high school, Cleve went on to lead Motlow State Community College
to two Junior College State Championships. He was voted Player of the
Year by the Tennessee Junior College Conference in the1982-83 and
1983-84 seasons. In 1984, Cleve was voted to the National Junior College
team. He was also voted MVP of the Motlow State team by his teammates
and coaches.
After Motlow, Cleve attended Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.
While there he was the two-time assist leader, averaging 9 assists per
game. He set a school record for most assists in one game with 18. He
was also the Defensive Player of the Year in 1984-85 and 1985-86. He
finished his career at Union being named the MVP by players and coaches.
Coach Cleve began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Motlow
State in 1986. He left there to become the head middle school coach at
Moore County Middle School from 1987-1989. From 1989-1993 he went to
East Hickman Middle School where in the 1991-92 season his team went
26-0 while winning the James C. Haile Tournament, the Springfield State
Tournament, and the Overbrook Christmas Tournament.
After his stint at East Hickman, Coach Cleve joined the coaching staff
at Christ Presbyterian Academy. There he has served as head middle
school girls’ coach, head middle school boys’ coach, and assistant
varsity coach. His best team record at CPA was 21-2. His teams have
played in seven HVAC championship games, winning three of them. In 2007,
CPA named Coach Cleve the Middle School Director of Basketball.
In addition to coaching school teams, Cleve has coached travel teams for
18 years. Cleve is the president and founder of the Tennessee Tigers AAU
organization. In 1995, Cleve’s 16s team won the AAU National Tournament.
His teams have finished 3rd four times, between 5th and 10th six times,
and he has coached a number of NCAA Division I players, including former Vanderbilt stand-out Ashley McElhiney.