Wake Forest Athletics
Photo by: ©2020 WFU/Ken Bennett
A New Era of Wake Forest Basketball
5/24/2020 8:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Gold Rush
Welcome to the commencement of the Steve Forbes era.
Commencement…it's a word some people mistakenly associate with an ending, like graduation, which is often the final event of one's college experience. But in actuality, commencement means "beginning" — the tip off, the kickoff, the pass back, the first serve, the starting gun — it's the first step in a new direction or the start of a new game.
This time of year we are usually busy marking Wake Forest's commencement by celebrating our graduating Demon Deacons with a special reception and paying tribute to the countless achievements and accolades they earned during their time at Wake Forest. So before I go any further, I want to congratulate the student-athletes who earned their degrees in the 2019-20 year. Their final year didn't exactly turn out as they had envisioned, and we are all disappointed that we could not celebrate them in person. But we are thinking of them and are grateful for all they have done and the way they have represented the Deacs on the field and off. On behalf of all Wake Forest alumni, we are proud to welcome them to our ranks.
But now I want to talk about a different kind of commencement that we celebrated this spring — the commencement of a new era for Wake Forest Basketball — the commencement of the Steve Forbes era.
It began at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 30, as the wheels were set in motion for his official public announcement. The search process, which Coach Forbes described as "mental Olympics" had just reached its conclusion after several grueling days, but he was ready to go. The morning of the announcement began with a meeting with Dr. Hatch. Next up was a Zoom meeting with his ETSU team followed by another Zoom meeting in which he was introduced to his new Wake Forest team. He also found time to film an introductory video (with the mask spike) that would become the most watched video in the history of the Wake Forest twitter account!
We made the official announcement around midday via a press release, so next up was media interviews and the first official tour of the new Shah Basketball Complex for Coach Forbes and a couple key members of his staff who had joined him.
The best way to describe Coach Forbes and his staff, as they took in the incredible new facilities made possible by the generosity of Mit Shah, Ben Sutton, Bob McCreary and so many others, would be "giddy with excitement." Coach Forbes remarked that he sort of felt like he was on the gameshow "Let's Make a Deal" in which you pick one of two doors to reveal a prize which is either a new car…or a goat — but in this version, each door he opened revealed "a new car." There definitely aren't any "goats" in the Shah Basketball Complex.
The tour concluded in Coach Forbes' new office. He was amazed by the size of it and even got lost a few times trying to navigate the men's basketball office suite. He and his staff joked that they might as well check out of their hotel because they had everything they could possibly need right there in the Shah Basketball Complex — including a state-of-the-art training complex that would enable them to recruit and develop their student-athletes at the highest level.
To cap off a very busy first day, Mit Shah provided Coach Forbes and his staff with dinner from a Wake Forest institution — Putters — which I had the pleasure of helping deliver to the men's basketball suite. I'm pretty sure the staff stayed up all night figuring out the roster and charting a path forward for our basketball program.
The next morning, we prepared for the press conference, conducting it via WebEx and streaming it live on YouTube. Afterwards, we asked Coach Forbes to film several scenes for commercials and videos, record a couple of automated phone messages and have a variety of photos taken for use in advertising and social media. What really struck me was when, in the midst of the exhausting whirlwind of scheduled activities, I saw Coach Forbes take a moment to walk over and introduce himself to Thomas Laws, a Wake Forest student who had driven over from Concord, NC that morning to serve as the Deacon mascot during the day's events. I noticed that Coach Forbes spent a considerable amount of time talking with and getting to know Thomas. I thought the moment really demonstrated Coach Forbes' genuine and humble nature and tremendous character. It was heartening to see him make time to engage with someone who is certainly a vital part of our program but often stays behind the scenes and likely didn't expect to be talking in-depth with the new coach during such a hectic time.
The rest of the day was filled with more media interviews and several more WebEx calls with a variety of key constituents, concluding around 8 p.m. The 48-hour flurry of activity introducing Coach Forbes to Wake Forest had felt like a sprint marathon to me, so I can't imagine how Coach and his staff were feeling that Friday evening. But as I went to bed that night, exhausted, I am pretty sure they were still at it, working tirelessly well into the wee hours of the night.
Looking back on that 48-hour sprint, I concluded a number of things. Coach Forbes is a "glass half-full" kind of guy. He is witty, genuine, and humble with a big dose of "small town" in his blood thanks to his upbringing in Lone Tree, Iowa. He reminds me a bit of the late Skip Prosser and seems to possess some of the same charming qualities that endeared Skip to so many in Deacon Nation. He's someone with whom you just want to hang out, have a beer and talk about life. One of the memories of Skip that really stands out to me was when he said, "We are going to be good again." Coach Forbes believes that too.
With the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognized that there was no playbook or "best practices" for announcing a new coach amidst such uncertainty. But we did know that it was an exciting time for the Deacon faithful and our goal for Coach Forbes' announcement was to spark a movement around Wake Forest Basketball — build excitement and provide momentum to Coach Forbes, his staff and players by harnessing the collective power of our fans for the purposes of returning our program to greatness.
Within a matter of days, maybe even hours, after the commencement of the Coach Forbes era, that movement was well on its way. Wake Forest fans are rallying around Coach Forbes, invigorated by his personality and energy. The excitement is palpable. WE ARE GOING TO BE GOOD AGAIN! I have complete trust and confidence that Coach Forbes will not only work smart, but work incredibly hard each and every day to accomplish that goal.
Thanks to our fans for joining with us to celebrate the commencement of the Coach Forbes era and helping create a movement around Wake Forest Basketball. If we all get behind this coach and do our collective part, we will see a lot of hoisting of trophies and cutting down nets in our future.
In the words of Coach Forbes himself, "Lets GOOO Deacon Nation. Let's Get This Done!"
This time of year we are usually busy marking Wake Forest's commencement by celebrating our graduating Demon Deacons with a special reception and paying tribute to the countless achievements and accolades they earned during their time at Wake Forest. So before I go any further, I want to congratulate the student-athletes who earned their degrees in the 2019-20 year. Their final year didn't exactly turn out as they had envisioned, and we are all disappointed that we could not celebrate them in person. But we are thinking of them and are grateful for all they have done and the way they have represented the Deacs on the field and off. On behalf of all Wake Forest alumni, we are proud to welcome them to our ranks.
But now I want to talk about a different kind of commencement that we celebrated this spring — the commencement of a new era for Wake Forest Basketball — the commencement of the Steve Forbes era.
It began at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 30, as the wheels were set in motion for his official public announcement. The search process, which Coach Forbes described as "mental Olympics" had just reached its conclusion after several grueling days, but he was ready to go. The morning of the announcement began with a meeting with Dr. Hatch. Next up was a Zoom meeting with his ETSU team followed by another Zoom meeting in which he was introduced to his new Wake Forest team. He also found time to film an introductory video (with the mask spike) that would become the most watched video in the history of the Wake Forest twitter account!
We made the official announcement around midday via a press release, so next up was media interviews and the first official tour of the new Shah Basketball Complex for Coach Forbes and a couple key members of his staff who had joined him.
The best way to describe Coach Forbes and his staff, as they took in the incredible new facilities made possible by the generosity of Mit Shah, Ben Sutton, Bob McCreary and so many others, would be "giddy with excitement." Coach Forbes remarked that he sort of felt like he was on the gameshow "Let's Make a Deal" in which you pick one of two doors to reveal a prize which is either a new car…or a goat — but in this version, each door he opened revealed "a new car." There definitely aren't any "goats" in the Shah Basketball Complex.
The tour concluded in Coach Forbes' new office. He was amazed by the size of it and even got lost a few times trying to navigate the men's basketball office suite. He and his staff joked that they might as well check out of their hotel because they had everything they could possibly need right there in the Shah Basketball Complex — including a state-of-the-art training complex that would enable them to recruit and develop their student-athletes at the highest level.
To cap off a very busy first day, Mit Shah provided Coach Forbes and his staff with dinner from a Wake Forest institution — Putters — which I had the pleasure of helping deliver to the men's basketball suite. I'm pretty sure the staff stayed up all night figuring out the roster and charting a path forward for our basketball program.
The next morning, we prepared for the press conference, conducting it via WebEx and streaming it live on YouTube. Afterwards, we asked Coach Forbes to film several scenes for commercials and videos, record a couple of automated phone messages and have a variety of photos taken for use in advertising and social media. What really struck me was when, in the midst of the exhausting whirlwind of scheduled activities, I saw Coach Forbes take a moment to walk over and introduce himself to Thomas Laws, a Wake Forest student who had driven over from Concord, NC that morning to serve as the Deacon mascot during the day's events. I noticed that Coach Forbes spent a considerable amount of time talking with and getting to know Thomas. I thought the moment really demonstrated Coach Forbes' genuine and humble nature and tremendous character. It was heartening to see him make time to engage with someone who is certainly a vital part of our program but often stays behind the scenes and likely didn't expect to be talking in-depth with the new coach during such a hectic time.
The rest of the day was filled with more media interviews and several more WebEx calls with a variety of key constituents, concluding around 8 p.m. The 48-hour flurry of activity introducing Coach Forbes to Wake Forest had felt like a sprint marathon to me, so I can't imagine how Coach and his staff were feeling that Friday evening. But as I went to bed that night, exhausted, I am pretty sure they were still at it, working tirelessly well into the wee hours of the night.
Looking back on that 48-hour sprint, I concluded a number of things. Coach Forbes is a "glass half-full" kind of guy. He is witty, genuine, and humble with a big dose of "small town" in his blood thanks to his upbringing in Lone Tree, Iowa. He reminds me a bit of the late Skip Prosser and seems to possess some of the same charming qualities that endeared Skip to so many in Deacon Nation. He's someone with whom you just want to hang out, have a beer and talk about life. One of the memories of Skip that really stands out to me was when he said, "We are going to be good again." Coach Forbes believes that too.
With the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recognized that there was no playbook or "best practices" for announcing a new coach amidst such uncertainty. But we did know that it was an exciting time for the Deacon faithful and our goal for Coach Forbes' announcement was to spark a movement around Wake Forest Basketball — build excitement and provide momentum to Coach Forbes, his staff and players by harnessing the collective power of our fans for the purposes of returning our program to greatness.
Within a matter of days, maybe even hours, after the commencement of the Coach Forbes era, that movement was well on its way. Wake Forest fans are rallying around Coach Forbes, invigorated by his personality and energy. The excitement is palpable. WE ARE GOING TO BE GOOD AGAIN! I have complete trust and confidence that Coach Forbes will not only work smart, but work incredibly hard each and every day to accomplish that goal.
Thanks to our fans for joining with us to celebrate the commencement of the Coach Forbes era and helping create a movement around Wake Forest Basketball. If we all get behind this coach and do our collective part, we will see a lot of hoisting of trophies and cutting down nets in our future.
In the words of Coach Forbes himself, "Lets GOOO Deacon Nation. Let's Get This Done!"
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Wednesday, March 18
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Men's Basketball Postgame Presser vs. Clemson, 2026 ACC Tournament
Thursday, March 12