Wake Forest basketball Head Coach Steve Forbes to receive contract extension

“The hardest thing in life to regain is respect. And this team has gone out and regained the respect of our campus, our community, and the ACC and across the nation.” coach Steve Forbes said last night after a shellacking of N.C. State on Senior Night. “Once you lose something like that, it’s hard to get it back. And respect is not given, it’s earned.”

Well, if there’s one person that’s truly earned that respect, it’s coach Forbes who was rewarded with a contract extension to keep him in Old Gold and Black moving forward.

Bringing in Steve Forbes has resulted in:

• Wake Forest not playing on the first day of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2009
• Bringing in the ACC Player of the Year in Alondes Williams
• Snapped numerous ACC road losing streaks
• Probably has Wake Forest making their non First Four NCAA tournament appearance since 2010
• ACC Coach of the year

There’s always hesitation in giving a second-year head coach a long and lucrative extension. You never know if the turnaround is shortlived, and locking yourself into big contracts is the easiest way to keep yourself spiraling if things go south.

However, even without knowing the specifics of the contract, shoutout private institutions sarcasm font, this one feels a little different. This isn’t one to shore up recruiting by saying he’s not getting fired. It’s a message that if you do well you’ll be rewarded and Wake wants to keep their coach around.

There’s no secret that people want to get paid. We all want to get paid more in our day jobs and Steve Forbes was going to get paid sooner rather than later. It was just a matter of if it was by Wake or someone else. Forbes was consistently on watch lists for big openings, and just like the Dave Clawson saga in the fall, it ended the way Wake fans wanted.

Congrats, Steve.

Go Deacs.