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<P><CENTER><h2><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333399">Cliff Ellis</font></h2><P><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333399"><b>Head Coach</b></font></CENTER>
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<img src="../../graphics/coaches/basketball/ellis07.jpg" width=144 height=280 border=2 alt="Cliff Ellis" align=right>
<P>When Cliff Ellis was named Auburn's 18th head basketball coach April 5, 1994, he said that he had a five-year plan for the Tigers.</FONT>
<P>Although Ellis was successful by leading Auburn to four straight winning seasons and three postseason appearances in his first four years, he was right on target for 1998-99, his fifth season on the Plains.
<P>Ellis has been named the 1999 John and Nellie Wooden National Coach of the Year as well as 1999 National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association-Frontier, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and Basketball News. Ellis, who is a consensus SEC Coach of the Year this season, has been named SEC Coach of the Year twice (1995 and 1999) in his five years at Auburn.
<P>The Tigers climbed as high as No. 2 in the nation in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll and finished the season fourth, won the outright SEC Championship (the school has only won two in the 67-year history of the SEC with the other coming in 1960), SEC Western Division Championship and set the school record for victories in a season which continues to grow each game.
<P>Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum sold out seven times and a record 123,881 fans passed through its doors. The Tigers had never had back-to-back home sellouts in the 31-year history of the Coliseum prior to this season.
<P>In fact, he reached 96 wins at Auburn faster than any other coach in Tiger history, including the legendary Joel Eaves, Auburn's all-time winningest coach and for whom the Coliseum is named after.
<P>Prior to Cliff Ellis' arrival, Auburn had not made consecutive postseason appearances in eight years.
<P>Wherever Cliff Ellis coaches, he wins -- winning 62 percent of his games. He claimed his 400th Div. I head coaching victory last season and has a 444-271 record, ranking second among current SEC head coaches.
<P>Ellis already owns the distinction for being the all-time winningest coach in Clemson and South Alabama history and is on pace to do the same at Auburn. Auburn Basketball has been rejuvenated on the Plains -- much to the credit of Cliff Ellis. It hasn't been since the days of NBA standouts Charles Barkley, Chuck Person and Chris Morris that Auburn has enjoyed this much success.
<P>Ellis came to the Tigers with a reputation for resurrecting programs. Auburn was coming off an 11-17 record (3-13 SEC) in 1993-94 as well as losing players to the NBA in Wesley Person and Aaron Swinson and the SEC's leading rebounder in Aubrey Wiley.
<P>Auburn was a consensus last place pick in the SEC--12th out of 12 teams. However, Ellis felt differently.
<P>Auburn surprised everyone in Ellis' first season by going 16-13 overall (7-9 SEC) and earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament, only Auburn's second postseason appearance in the last seven years. It was Auburn's first-ever postseason home game. The Tigers' 16 wins were the most in seven seasons.
<P>Ellis was named SEC Coach of the Year by The Anniston Star. He became the first coach in the 89 years of Auburn basketball history to take the Tigers to postseason action in the first season at the school. In fact, he was the first coach since the legendary Joel Eaves in 1949-50 to have a winning season in his first year at the school.
<P>Among the wins were victories over four nationally-ranked teams including a 104-90 homecourt win over defending National Champion and fourth-ranked Arkansas as well as a 77-71 homecourt win over Florida, a 1994 Final Four participant. The Tigers were the only team to sweep SEC Western Division co-Champion Mississippi State.
<P>In Ellis' second year in 1995-96, he led the Tigers to the NIT, the first time since 1988 that Auburn made two consecutive postseason appearances. Auburn's 19-13 record (6-10 SEC) included three regular season tournament championships -- marking the first time in 10 years that the school even won one tournament.
<P>Less than a week before the 1995-96 season started, Auburn found that it would not have the services of All-SEC guard Moochie Norris and leading rebounder Chris Davis. All Auburn did was go out and win the season-opening Puerto Rico Shootout by beating the likes of La Salle, James Madison and #13 Louisville, after trailing by 22 points at halftime. The Tigers also garnered championship trophies from the Dr. Pepper Invitational in Waco, Texas, and the Capital City Classic in Tallahassee, Fla.
<P>Auburn enjoyed its second highest average SEC home attendance figure in history with 8,841 fans coming to Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
<P>Ellis became the first Auburn coach in a decade to lead the Tigers to three consecutive winning seasons by going 16-15 in 1996-97. This coming after All-SEC point guard Wes Flanigan was diagnosed with bone cancer the summer prior. Flanigan battled back, although not near 100 percent, to play for the Tigers. He was presented with the "Most Courageous Award" by the United States Basketball Writers at the 1997 Final Four in Indianapolis. In addition, four Tigers graduated at the end of the season, including junior Franklin Williams, who had a 4.0 GPA in graduate school for his senior year in 1997-98.
<P>The Tigers gained their first postseason victory in a decade by reaching the NIT second round. The 1997-98 Tigers, which finished the last month of the season with only seven scholarship players, finished 16-14 overall and 7-9 in the SEC, good for third in the Western Division. Auburn claimed a 68-67 win over 12th-ranked and Western Division Champion Ole Miss and a first round NIT win over Southern Miss.
<P>The one thing Auburn fans will remember forever is Auburn's record-setting 94-40 victory over Alabama, the Crimson Tide's worst loss in their basketball history.
<P>The 53-year-old Chipley, Fla., native is the all-time winningest coach in Clemson and South Alabama history and has a knack for turning programs around. Top 10 rankings, NCAA and NIT berths and 20-win seasons have always been synonymous with Ellis. He is ranked second among current SEC coaches with 444 Division I victories.
<P>With a career record of 444-271 (.621) in 24 seasons as a Division I head coach, Ellis has been to postseason play in 16 of the last 21 years - six NCAAs and 10 NITs. His overall coaching record (including junior college) stands at 522-283 (.648).
<P>Prior to Auburn, Ellis spent a decade at Clemson as he rewrote the Tiger record book and took the Tigers to eight postseason appearances in 10 years, three NCAAs and five NITs. The Tigers had been to postseason play just five times prior to his arrival.
<P>He is the only coach in ACC history to guide a school to postseason play in each of his first six years with a league program.
<P>The winningest coach in Clemson history with a record of 177-128, Ellis established over 20 Clemson coaching records ranging from most wins overall, in ACC games and against ranked opponents, to victories by five points or less in league play and overall on a season and career basis.
<P>The 1989-90 Clemson team continued the tradition of excellence that Ellis began when he took over the program. For the first time in the school's 80-year history, the Tigers won the regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference title. Also for the first time, two Tigers were All-ACC first-team selections of the Associated Press/Atlantic Coast Sportswriters in the same year. Ellis became the first Tiger basketball coach to be named conference Coach of the Year twice (1987 and 1990).
<P>Later that season, Ellis' Tigers knocked off ACC foe North Carolina 69-61 and four days later, defeated fifth-ranked Duke 97-93. The Duke victory also gave Clemson its 24th consecutive victory in Littlejohn Coliseum, setting the Clemson record, and at the time, ranked as the fourth best among active home winning streaks nationwide. Included in those 24 wins were 13 victories over ACC teams, five ranked in the AP Top 25, three in the Top 10.
<P>In 1986-87, Ellis' Tigers became the most successful team in Clemson history finishing with a 25-6 record, a No. 13 national ranking and an NCAA Tournament berth. Ellis, who became the first Clemson coach to be named ACC Coach of the Year, was also named NABC District III Coach of the Year by his peers and the state of South Carolina Coach of the Year. The Tigers defeated five USA Today Top 25 teams and they became only the second squad (at that time) in Clemson history to be invited to the Big Dance. Ellis also moved Clemson into the Top 10 in both the AP and UPI polls for the first time in school history.
<P>In Ellis' second year at Clemson in 1985-86, he led the Tigers to 19 wins and a NIT Final Eight berth. The Tigers also set a school record with 11 straight wins (later improved to 17 by the 1987 team) winning at Southwest Conference Champion Texas Tech, defeating NCAA Tourney participant Maryland and handing Bradley its only loss of the regular season.
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1999 National Coach of the Year
<br>1995 & 1999 SEC Coach of the Yearr
<br>1987 & 1990 ACC Coach of the Year
<br>1990 UPI ACC Coach of the Year
<br>1987 & 1990 Kodak (NABC) District III Coach of the Year
<br>1990 US Basketball Writers District III Coach of the Year
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<P>It took Ellis only one year to establish himself in the ACC.
On Jan. 8, 1985, he became the first Clemson coach to win his first-ever ACC game, a nationally-televised victory at Top 10 Georgia Tech, who went on to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Later in the year, Clemson downed No. 11 North Carolina 52-50.
<P>Ellis coached at South Alabama from 1975-84 and is still the winningest coach in Jaguar history with a 171-84 record in nine seasons. However, in 1975 when he took over the head coaching duties, the administrators at South Alabama were thinking of dropping to Division II. Four years later, Ellis had the Jaguars in the NCAA Tournament and six seasons later they were ranked in the nation's Top 10.
<P>In 1977-78, he was instrumental in the school's arrival in the Sun Belt Conference winning 18 games and defeating No. 10 Florida State. South Alabama reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1978-79, losing to Louisville in the regional semifinals. Ellis was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year as the Jags finished a perfect 10-0 in the league.
<P>The following season, South Alabama set a school record with a 23-6 slate, making a second trip to the Big Dance. In 1980-81, the Jaguars broke into the national rankings for the first time as they were ranked in the Top 20 11 straight weeks, going as high as No. 10.
<P>The 1968 Florida State graduate began his coaching career at Niceville (Fla.) High School, posting a 54-7 mark from 1968-71. In 1971-72, he guided Vanguard High of Ocala, Fla., to a 20-5 record, the best in the school's history.
<P>The following season, Ellis began his college career at Cumberland College in Lebanon, Tenn., and was the school's athletic director. In his first year, Cumberland had a 20-5 record followed by a 23-2 mark, a fourth place finish and the national scoring title (105.1 ppg) the next year.
<P>Ellis has always had a reputation for recruiting top-notch athletes. Four of his players off the 1980-81 South Alabama team were drafted in the NBA, more than any other school in the nation. The Jaguars then had three more drafted in 1985, all players Ellis had recruited to the school. He has five first round choices, including 1994 NBA lottery pick Sharone Wright, Terry Catledge, Horace Grant, Elden Campbell and Dale Davis and four times in the last 16 years, he has coached a conference player of the year. Chris Whitney, a second round pick in the 1993 NBA Draft is another former Clemson Tiger who played for Ellis. In his first year at Auburn, Ellis signed point guard Moochie Norris, who plays for the Seattle SuperSonics. In fact, he has coached the most NBA first round draft pick post men since 1987 than any current SEC coach.
<P>In addition to being ranked among the nation's elite basketball coaches, Ellis is also a musician, author and ostrich farmer. He started in the recording business before coaching and has released many records. In 1991, he released a record called "Loveland" by Cliff Ellis and the EBS All-Star Blues Band. He has recently cut another record, "Cliff Ellis and Friends," which includes several rock 'n roll songs and a rendition of "Amazing Grace" dedicated to the late Jim Valvano, a close friend who taught Ellis much about life through his battle with cancer. "Shake, Rattle and Roll," another song on the compact disc, has climbed all the way to No. 13 on the "Beach Music" charts.
<P>Ellis also has six publications to his credit. He has published two books - Zone Press Variations for Winning Basketball and The Complete Book of Fast Break Basketball.
<P>Married to the former Carolyn Ratzlaff, Ellis and his wife are the proud parents of three children, Chryssa Rutland (25), Clay (20) and Anna Catherine (16).
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<p align=CENTER>Last updated 8/16/99Monday, 19-Jun-2000 12:29:34 CDT</p>
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