Former Auburn University basketball head coach Cliff Ellis will have the basketball court at NAIA program Cumberland University named in his honor.

Cumberland athletic director Ron Pavan says the playing surface at Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena will be named after Ellis at a public ceremony Aug. 17.

Ellis began his college coaching career at Cumberland, then known as Cumberland Junior College. He posted a 78-12 record at Cumberland from 1973-75.

Ellis says in a statement he “wouldn’t be where I am today without the years I spent at Cumberland.”

Ellis went from Cumberland to South Alabama and later took over programs at Clemson, Auburn and Coastal Carolina in a head coaching career that has lasted four decades. He has reached the NCAA Tournament at all four of those schools.

He was national coach of the year in 1999 when Auburn won the SEC title.

(Associated Press, copyright 2018)

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