According to WXII TV NBC Winston-Salem on Thursday, the Wake Forest University Men’s Basketball Team has named Steve Forbes of Lone Tree, Iowa as their next head coach. Forbes is 55 years old, and takes over from former National Basketball Association player Danny Manning of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who had coached the Wake Forest Demon Deacons from 2014 to 2020.
Forbes had been coaching East Tennessee State from 2015 to 2020. Last season he had a record of 30 wins and four losses. During his time with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Forbes had a record of 130 wins and 43 losses.
Forbes also has head coaching experience with Southwestern Community College in Creston, IA (1991 to 1993), Barton County Community College in Great Bend, KS (1995 to 1998), and Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, FL (2011 to 2013). The Northwest Florida State College is part of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
In addition to being a head coach at the university basketball level, Forbes has a rich history of being an assistant coach as well. He was with Southwest Community College (1989 to 1991), Barton County Community College (1993 to 1995), the University of Idaho (1998 to 2000), Lousiana Tech University (2000 to 2003), Illinois State University (2003 to 2004), Texas A&M (2004 to 2006). University of Tennessee (2006 to 2011), and Wichita State (2013 to 2015).
The Deamon Deacons struggled under Manning. The team only had a record of 78 wins and 111 losses over six seasons. Only once did the Deamon Deacons have a winning season under Manning. That was in 2016-17 as Wake Forest had a record of 19 wins and 14 losses and reached the NCAA Tournament. However, the Deamon Deacons lost in the first four round 95-88 to Kansas State.
Manning was relieved of his duties as the Wake Forest head coach on April 25. In addition to coaching Wake Forest, Manning coached Tulsa from 2012 to 2014 and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2014. Manning also played 16 seasons in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons from 1988 to 2003. He represented the Clippers at the 1993 and 1994 NBA All-Star Game and won the NBA’s sixth man of the year award with the Suns in 1998.
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