MIAMI — Cletus Green, who won 326 games in 16 seasons as men's basketball coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, has died.

Green, a 1952 Miami High School graduate who spent 50 years coaching on the high school, junior college and college levels, was inducted into the NEO Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.

His career record was 767-421 and 326-174 as the Norse head coach.

NEO claimed eight Bi-State Conference titles and took two teams to the NJCAA men's national tournament.

"Coach Green laid the groundwork for the ?Golden Age' of men's basketball at NEO," said longtime NEO sports information director and journalism instructor Monty Franks. "Not only did he expand out-of-state recruiting for the college, but with his coaching abilities, he led the Golden Norsemen to the fore-front of regional and national play.

"As a motivator of young student-athletes, Coach Green was involved in their lives both on and off the court. He also was a very colorful entertainer on the sidelines during a game."

Green's 1973-74 Golden Norsemen finished sixth at Hutchinson with a 31-4 record and NEO wound up seventh in 1970-71 with a 25-11 mark.

While at NEO, Green served a stint as president of the National Junior College Basketball Coaches Association.
He was inducted into the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Hall of fame in 2007 and the Seminole High School Hall of Fame.

He also was honored in 1999 as the NEO Outstanding Alumni.

Green also was head coach at Bristow High School and Northwestern Oklahoma State University, headed up the Oral Roberts University women's program and was an assistant at Southwest Missouri State College and ORU.

In 1994, he was named associate athletic director at ORU in 1994.

Survivors include his wife, Carolyn, and three children, Steve, Kelly and Becky.