Shaw's Cleo Hill Jr. receives national coaching award

May 16, 2011

The National Sportscasters and Sportscasters Association & Hall of Fame has chosen Shaw Head Basketball Coach Cleo Hill, Jr. as the NCAA Div. II winner of the inaugural Clarence E. ‘Big House’ Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year Award. Virginia Commonwealth head coach Shaka Smart won the Div. I award.

The Awards were presented at the NSSA's 52nd Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 14 at Catawba College's Goodman Gym.

Hill, Jr. was named the head men's basketball coach at Shaw on April 10, 2008 and just finished the most successful of his three seasons there, posting a 23-9 overall mark, winning the CIAA Basketball Tournament championship and earning an NCAA Tournament berth – his third tournament appearance as a head coach.

Hill's Bears, led by CIAA Tournament MVP Raheem Smith and backcourt mate Tony Smith, won a quarterfinal Atlantic Region game over Winston-Salem State before losing a close contest to undefeated host and top-seed West Liberty (98-93) in the regional semifinals. West Liberty won the region and lost in the national semifinals.

Before Shaw, Hill served as head coach at Cheyney University in and was an assistant at Shaw and Nebraska. The North Carolina Central University graduate and his wife, the former Regina Boone are the parents of one daughter, Sage Ellana.

The Award is named for Gaines (1923-2005), who was best known for the 47 seasons he spent as head basketball coach at Winston-Salem State University. Over that time, his teams won 823 games, including the NCAA Division II national championship in 1967. Gaines won his 800th game at Livingstone College in Salisbury where Catawba is located, in 1990. Gaines also served as president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and was a member of several Halls of Fame. He died in 2005 at the age of 81.