Steve Forbes joining Wichita State staff

[WstateU]

I have to say...without any personal information....those 2 names scare the living hell out of me.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way. We may have attracted a lot more attention from the NCAA with this hire.

Although I agree about those 2 knuckleheads, “I’m not worried!”

I’ve heard (of course it could have been a dream) that WSU is now considered a ‘model institution’ when it comes to NCAA compliance. The WSU administration and all WSU sports have been doing it the right way. That’s not to say that minor infractions haven’t occurred in the past several years; it’s impossible to follow every ‘silly’ NCAA rule.

I’d bet my house that coach Marshall visited with AD Sexton and President Bardo and there was discussion with the NCAA enforcement staff before this hire was authorized. I’m 100% confident that Coach Forbes was thoroughly ‘vetted’ before the trigger was pulled.
I don’t believe HCGM would be willing to ‘roll the dice’ with this hire and risk his bright future unless every stone had been turned looking into Coach Forbes’ past. Here’s what coach Marshall and Eric Sexton both had to say about the hire:

Coach Marshall - “We are excited to have someone with his skill set, who is also looking for a ‘second chance’ in our profession, to join our staff.”

AD Sexton - “"I am excited about the addition of Steve Forbes to the men’s basketball staff,” said Eric Sexton, Wichita State Director of Athletics. “He is a quality individual who brings a great resume and knows what it takes to recruit and develop Division I student-athletes. He will fit in nicely with Gregg Marshall’s staff."

You don’t usually see an AD comment on the hiring of an assistant coach. My guess was they wanted to do some ‘pre-damage’ control with the press release… especially for us ‘old farts’ that experienced the wrath of the NCAA in the early 80’s. Believe me; we don’t want to go there again. We can’t be that stupid again, can we?

[WSUwatcher]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way. We may have attracted a lot more attention from the NCAA with this hire.

The NCAA is so busy with damage control on its own investigative bungling it doesn't have time to worry about coaching hires.

Seriously, guys -- this is a great hire, and not the least bit risky. If it were, Marshall wouldn't even have considered it, because he's in a position where he doesn't need to take chances.

Years ago, Norm Ellenberger got himself and New Mexico into all sorts of trouble with some shady practices, as a result of which he was dumped despite a highly successful record. But after a while, Don Haskins, an old rival and a solid citizen, gave him a second chance as an assistant at UTEP and had no problems; later Mr. Clean Bob Knight had Ellenberger on the Indiana staff for ten years or so, obviously with no ill effects.

WSU may have had some NCAA stumbles back in the day, but Gregg Marshall is as upright as they come. As long as that's the case, and we have every reason to believe it always will be, this isn't going to attract any scrutiny at all.

[Dave Stalwart]

His connection to Jans and Heiar makes me think those guys know him and trust him. They would be able to vouch for him when our administration asked these questions. If he is corrupt and his friends knew it and we still hired him anyway, that would mean our staff is already corrupt. You can't worry about Forbes without worrying about who we already have, and I think our current staff is a great one.

My guess is our staff wants to help a friend whose career path betrayed him. Our guys know he won't be trouble. They also know he is a FANTASTIC get.

I would expect a guy who has been through what Forbes went through to be as straight laced as any man has ever been going forward. He will be closer to an in-house watch dog, helping us know the rules and not make mistakes than a trouble maker.

One last thing. For every worry about bringing NCAA investigation spotlights here, he also brings more good national publicity since he is a high profile guy and most of what I've read says props to WSU for giving him a chance. The WSU brand gets more air time with this hire than with just about any other assistant we could have hired.

[SubGod22]

I had more concerns with Turner and his Eck past than I do with Forbes. I know Billy G is a douche and Pearl got into trouble for being an idiot. If what I've read is correct, wasn't Forbes only real issue with the NCAA being that he tried to cover for his boss? I've only skimmed some of the things on Forbes lately but that's what I thought I picked up on. So if that's true, it's not like Forbes himself was out doing a bunch of shady things. If I'm wrong, forgive me.

[Aargh]

I'm leaning the other way on the ethical considerations of this hire.

Forbes was on the verge of being a $1 mill a year guy. Then he was unemployed, unable to work in his chosen career for a year, and had a "reputation". The LAST thing in the world that Forbes wants is anything resembling a even speck of impropriety.

He probably wants to get back into contention for some heqd coaching jobs. If he's even close to anything questionable, that's off the table, and he's unlikely to get a 3rd chance. Forbes has to work in a program with a reputation for being squeaky clean, and has to stay that way himself. Forbes had to choose a program he could trust to get back into the D1 ranks.

Marshall has to not be afraid of what the NCAA will see if they look or he doesn't dare make the hire. I think Forbes thinks the WSU program is clean and will stay that way.

As I understand it, Forbes' problem at Tennessee wasn't that he broke any rules, but rather that he refused to throw his boss under the bus, which required his lying to the NCAA investigators. I've read opinions that if an assistant thrws the HC under the bus, that assistant will probably never work at the D1 level again. EVER! Lying to the NCAA appeared to be less damaging to a career.

I'm not worried. Gillaspie and Pearl are bothersome, but just because your boss is a crook, doesn't necessarily mean you are one, too.

[1972Shocker]

I agree with Aargh that Coach Forbes might not only have been the target of interest by Coach Marshall, no doubt with the storng encouragement from Coach Jans and Coach Heiar, but that Coach Marshall and his program had to be attractive for Coach Forbes to even consider coming here. Coach Forbes really can't afford to associate himself with any program that doesn't operate with high ethical standards and practices.

Just as Coach Jans and Coach Heiar were probably a good resource for 3G regarding Coach Forbes' character, they were no doubt a valuable and trusted source of information to Coach Forbes' regarding the character and ethics of Coach Marshall and what kind of a program he runs.

While the association with Gillaspie and Pearl give you some pause, I think in some ways this hire is less worrisome than others because of those experiences. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. I think most of us can say we've been there to one degree or another.

I feel good about this hire and I believe Coach Forbes will be determined to reward Coach Marshall and Shocker nation for the opportunity to resurrect his career.

[pinstripers]

of course his past is a concern. Pretending that it is not is just silly. HCGM thinks that he is worth the risk.

[rialaigh]

He's got sick JUCO connections too...thats what excites me..

"Forbes spent the past two years coaching junior college at Northwest Florida State. The Iowa native led the Raiders to consecutive appearances in the national title game while posting a 62-6 record. His best player from those teams, Chris Jones, is set to enroll at Louisville and replace Peyton Siva as the Cardinals' starting point guard."

:)

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Coach Forbes is a STAND UP guy, one that will fit perfectly into our program. He never lied to the NCAA. He was not forthcoming, which is why he got the one year show-cause. They felt he should have "volunteered" additional information that they didn't ask about, but did find out later.

HE was the reason Billy G was successful at aTm. How well did he do at Kentucky without him? He's that good.

He was a key contributor to Tennessee while there.

Boys and Girls, it is going to get ugly. The Valley is happy and scared beyond belief all at the same time. Wichita State's success will benefit the others in this league. That is good for them. They won't be able to touch us. Not even close.

The days of waiting are over.......

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Point of last post:

While it is a great day to be a Shocker, just wait. The road is paved with gold to the promised land!

I'm NOT Satisfied!

[Shox21]

If this was posted, I missed it. From "Rumors" on ESPN -- "Gregg Marshall's Wichita State coaching staff has undergone an unusual amount of movement the past two seasons. Dana Ford left the Shockers' program for Illinois State two years ago, and it was announced in late June that K.T. Turner would depart for Southern Methodist. Both had extensive experience recruiting the junior college ranks, the life-blood for the Shockers; the team has an annual influx of juco players, and a number of the top Shockers in recent years have spent time playing under the NJCAA's umbrella. It was nearly assured Marshall would hire a coach with experience recruiting juco, and the news -- reported by CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish -- that Steve Forbes had been hired makes the move arguably the best by any program this offseason.

Forbes was previously an assistant at Tennessee before the NCAA said Forbes did not fully cooperate with the investigation of Bruce Pearl and the UT program, and essentially banned him from the DI ranks for one year (Forbes was not allowed to recruit if he was hired by another DI school during that time frame). Before landing at Northwest Florida State, Forbes had extensive experience recruiting juco players, bouncing around various junior colleges throughout the nation and building a massive rolodex, and built a nationally competitive program in Niceville, Fla. (the team made the juco national championship game in consecutive seasons under Forbes' tutelage).

Forbes' hiring gives Marshall arguably the country's top juco recruiter, and someone capable of landing the best talent each season. While the Shockers still have Cleanthony Early on the roster, there is only two incoming jucos for the 2013-14 season (Earl Watson and Darius Carter) so it will be interesting to see what effect Forbes will be able to have for WSU's 2014 class. This marks the second time in Forbes' coaching career he has been hired right before the heart of the summer evaluation period -- he was hired around the same time at Louisiana Tech -- and he helped the Bulldogs land one of the nation's top classes, so he might be able to similarly boost the Missouri Valley program."

[KochHead22]

Man I'm even more jacked to see what these coaches will do over the next few years! (As long as we can keep them all that long!)

[jocoshock]

UPGRADE does not begin to describe this hire....

UPGRADE provides only a clue...

[pogo]

I feel at one with the universe.

[forevershockerfan]

Yes, yes, yes, I concur. This hire exceeds my fabricated expectations. Think about the supporting cast of other Shocker Coaches as far back as possible. Coach Marshall has surrounded himself with an assemblage of top-notch Assistants. This hire was like a major "chess move" in terms of us growing our Program. In terms of recruiting alone, this hire is going the make us even more blissful as ShockerNetters than we already are if that is indeed possible?