Fresno, Calif. » Fresno State basketball coach Steve Cleveland, the former BYU coach, remembers the first time he learned that current Cougars coach Dave Rose had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"I was driving out in the country, and I got a text message, that Dave had cancer," Cleveland recalled in a telephone interview Thursday. "I just had to pull over. It was pretty emotional. I just broke down [crying]. It was like, 'I can't believe this.' It took my breath away."
Almost six months to the day that BYU acknowledged the man who succeeded Cleveland in 2005 had a cancerous tumor on his pancreas, Rose and Cleveland will match wits on the basketball floor tonight, with Rose having been pronounced cancer-free in September. Cleveland's 4-4 Bulldogs play host to Rose's 7-1 Cougars at the Save Mart Center (8 p.m. MST, KJZZ).
"It's a miracle, when you think about it," Cleveland said.
He was talking about Rose's recovery, but he just as well could have been describing his own change of heart about facing his former team.
When Cleveland left Provo for the Fresno job in 2005, after coaching the Cougars to three NCAA Tournament berths, one Mountain West Conference tournament title and two regular-season titles from 1997-2005, he thought he would rather not face his old team again, especially not in Provo.
But when the plan to play tonight's game on a neutral floor -- the Galen Center in Los Angeles -- fell through, BYU agreed to play in Fresno, provided Cleveland and the Bulldogs return the favor in Provo in 2010.
"It is going to be really emotional, going back to Provo, because some of my dearest friends in the world are there," Cleveland said. "My tenure there was one of the greatest chapters of my life."
But first things first.
Cleveland is still trying to pull Fresno State out of a downward spiral brought on by numerous NCAA violations before he got there that left the program with just eight scholarship players the past four years. The Bulldogs, whom the coach says could easily be 6-2 or 7-1, see tonight's game as a chance to show they've got it going in the right direction.
"We are excited about the fact that a great basketball team is coming in here, and that our team has a chance to play a really quality opponent," Cleveland said. "During the game, Dave and I will compete. But the day after, we will continue to be best friends."
Cleveland and Rose speak at least once a week, and Rose said that when he was sick this summer he had several long conversations with Cleveland on his back porch.
Sounds like the recipe for an intense, emotional game.
"I think all the emotions will be the day before, the night before, when we see each other and talk to each other," Rose said. "But once we get to the game, I think it will be pretty normal."
Cleveland said once the ball goes up, the focus will be all about beating his former team.
"It is not about Dave and I. It is about our programs. He has taken that program to a different level. We built it together, and now I am trying to build this thing," Cleveland said. "It is another step for us. It is kind of a natural progression."
Because of BYU's missionary program, several players are still around that either played for Cleveland or were recruited by him.
"Chris Miles played for me [the year before his mission]," Cleveland said. "I signed Jackson Emery, and [Jonathan Tavernari] committed to us in my home as a junior. I recruited [former Cougar] Lee Cummard, but never coached him. It has been fun for me, seeing the success they have had."
It will be the first meeting between the former WAC rivals since 1999, when Fresno State won 80-71 in Fresno.
