Louisville Coaching Candidate Profile: Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes

Over the last decade, Forbes has made a name for himself as someone who specializes in program turnarounds.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program mutually parted ways with Chris Mack, ending a nearly four-year run with the Cardinals. As the coaching search progresses, we will break down each potential candidate, from the realistic to the far reaches. Next, we'll take a look at Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes.

Name: Steve Forbes
Age: 56
Born and Raised: Lone Tree, Iowa
Playing Career: Southern Arkansas University
Previous Experience: Head coach at Barton County and Northwest Florida State (JUCO). Assistant coach at six D1 schools, most recently Wichita State from 2013 to 2015. Head coach at East Tennessee State from 2015 to 2020 before taking Wake Forest job.
Connections to Louisville: None.

Pros: Over the last decade or so, Forbes has developed a reputation as a program rebuilder. He took a declining East Tennessee State program, and guided them to 24-win seasons in each of his five years there, including 30-4 in his final year. He inherited a Wake Forest team that went 13-18 the season before, and two years later, has them currently sitting at 20-5 - the Deacs' first 20-win season since 2010. Part of that success had been identifying and developing talent in the transfer portal. Alondes Williams was a role player at Oklahoma, but now leads the ACC in both scoring and assists. Both Jake Laravia and Daivian Williamson are double-digit scorers after coming from Indiana State and ETSU, respectively. He has a budding championship pedigree, leading Northwest Florida State to back-to-back appearances in the JUCO national title game, and two Southland Conference championships with ETSU.

Cons: As good as he is with pulling quality talent out of the transfer portal, it remains to be seen how good of a recruiter he can be when given the resources that a school like Louisville has. Neither East Tennessee State or Wake Forest are places where you can land blue chip talent consistently. Although once Forbes got to Wake, he did sign top-80 guard Carter Whitt in 2020, and has a commit from four-star forward Zach Keller in 2022. One thing to potentially keep in mind is that he has been at eight different schools since the turn of the century. He's not the most egregious job hopper in college basketball, but it's something to note.

Other Factors: When you think of coaches with high-intensity personalities, Forbes isn't usually the first guy that comes to mind, but he belongs in that conversation. More importantly, he has the moxie of someone who seems they would understand the magnitude of the Louisville job, and all it entails.

Odds of becoming Louisville's next head coach: Moderate. Forbes might not be among the top two or three favorites to land the job, but he's absolutely a candidate to keep tabs on due to his ability to turn programs around relatively quickly. But like with all candidates, it might boil down to how interested he is in the job, and if Louisville strikes out on other candidates higher on their list.

Other Candidates:

Kenny Payne

Mick Cronin

Eric Musselman

Nate Oats

Scott Davenport

Scott Drew

(Photo of Steve Forbes: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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