Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes diffuses Jim Boeheim comments, talks NIL
Following Syracuse’s 77-68 win over Boston College on Saturday, head coach Jim Boeheim questioned the integrity of the current NIL situation in college basketball, while also claiming that schools such as Wake Forest, Miami and Pitt had purchased their current rosters through the transfer portal.
Wake Forest has been heavily active in the portal since the hiring of head coach Steve Forbes in 2020. Since then, they have recruited current players Tyree Appleby, Andrew Carr, Jao Ituka and Davion Bradford, as well as Damari Monsanto and Daivien Williamson from East Tennessee State, where they were both recruited by Forbes. Forbes also brought in last year’s ACC Player of the Year Alondes Williams and 2022 first-round draft pick Jake LaRavia.
READ: Steve Forbes, Hubert Davis on Wake Forest’s small-ball lineup
“This is an awful place we're in in college basketball,” Boeheim said. “Pittsburgh bought a team. … Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team. ... It's like, 'Really, this is where we are?' That's really where we are, and it's only going to get worse.”
Later that evening, Forbes refuted Boeheim’s claims, stating to CBS Sports, “He's wrong. He's one thousand percent wrong. I don't have one player on my team that got NIL to come here. That's a fact. I've never had a player come here for NIL.”
Just in: Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes tells CBS Sports about Jim Boeheim claiming Wake Forest "bought a team:
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 5, 2023
"He's wrong. He's one thousand percent wrong. I don't have one player on my team that got NIL to come here. That's a fact. I've NEVER had a player come here for NIL."
According to Forbes, Boeheim later apologized in a personal call. The 47-year coach at Syracuse also released a statement Monday morning through the team’s social media accounts.
“I would like to clarify remarks I made in a conversation I had with a media member following our game on Saturday evening,” the statement read. “I apologize to the schools I mentioned. I believe the ACC member institutions are in compliance with NCAA rules governing Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). It was not my intention to imply otherwise.”
Statement from Coach Boeheim pic.twitter.com/MPwig9m6eu
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 6, 2023
During Monday’s weekly ACC teleconference, Forbes affirmed that Boeheim had called to walk back his statement, while also appearing to downplay the comments.
“There are very few people that respect Coach [Boeheim] more than I do,” Forbes said. “He knows that. I've said it publicly. Coach reached out to me around 2:30 in the morning. I'm fine with Coach. I like him, I respect him. I think the world of him. I'm fine, and I'm not here to perpetuate the narrative of what occurred on Saturday.”
When pressed Monday, Boeheim chose not to disclose what was discussed during that conversation or whether he had talked with Pitt and Miami head coaches Jeff Capel and Jim Larrañaga. Capel said in his portion of the teleconference that Boeheim reached out, while Larrañaga did not participate ahead of his team’s Monday night game against Duke.
During his scheduled meeting time, Boeheim clarified his statement from Saturday, discussing the impact of NIL as it currently stands.
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“It’s changed college basketball, you can change your team overnight,” Boeheim said. “That’s obviously the future of basketball, and it’s only going to grow. I’ll let somebody else try and decide whether that’s good or bad. That’s reality.”
Boeheim stated that he believes all the NIL deals that he knows of are “legal and within the rules completely.”
Forbes also commented on the current status of NIL, supporting athletes’ ability to earn off their name, image and likeness.
“I'm all for players monetizing their name, image and likeness for what they've accomplished in college,” Forbes said. “For instance, [UNC forward] Armando Bacot, he should. He's accomplished a lot in his career, and he's monetizing that. I'm all for it. Every student athlete here at Wake Forest has the opportunity to monetize their name, image and likeness by using the Opendorse market.”
But, just because Forbes supports athletes in the NIL era does not mean that he believes all is well with the process.
“I’m not for ‘pay for play,’” Forbes noted. “It’s turned into that.”
“I thought it'd be more about retention and recruiting,” Forbes continued. “That's not the case. But it is what it is. And until there's other rules, we continue with the landscape that we have. I don't make the rules. I don't have any input on that. I'm going to continue to do what the NCAA and the state laws tell us we can and can't do.”
Wake Forest next faces off with North Carolina Tuesday night at home. Forbes and Boeheim will play each other in their final ACC regular-season game on Mar. 4.
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Essex is the lead football writer and a managing editor for Deacons Daily. Essex served as the Sports Editor for the Old Gold & Black for two years, in addition to roles as a beat and feature writer.