A native of Lone Tree, Iowa, Forbes came to Magnolia to pitch for the Muleriders and was a member of the 1987 squad that finished third at the NAIA World Series. Led by SAU Sports Hall of Fame coach Steve Goodheart, that team remains one of the most accomplished in Mulerider Baseball history and is widely regarded as one of the greatest teams ever assembled at Southern Arkansas University.
The Muleriders earned their World Series berth after capturing the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship with a remarkable 25-1 league record and claiming the NAIA District 17 title. The team's lasting impact was recognized in 2017 when the 1987 Mulerider Baseball team became the first team inducted into the SAU Sports Hall of Fame.
During the 1987 season, Forbes posted a 4-2 record with a 3.89 earned run average, totaling 53.2 innings pitched and 29 strikeouts. At the NAIA World Series, he earned the victory over Grand Canyon College, helping send the Muleriders to the national semifinals.
A 1988 graduate of Southern Arkansas University with a degree in secondary education, Forbes later served as the university's Sports Information Director before embarking on a distinguished coaching career.
Forbes got his start at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, where he spent two years as an assistant coach before being hired as the head coach in March of 1991. Over the course of his two-year run as head coach, Forbes compiled a 36-27 record before taking the head coaching role at Barton County Community College. During his three seasons competing in the Jayhawk Conference, the Cougars produced three All-Americans and twice finished the season with a national ranking, while also earning victories over 15 nationally ranked teams and compiling a 68-28 overall record.
Forbes then took his talents to Idaho, where he joined the Vandals staff in 1998,
then being promoted to the associate head coach for the 1998-99 season. In his first season, the Vandals improved to 16-11 and signed a nationally ranked recruiting class. After his short stint in Idaho, Forbes returned to the south, where he spent three years at Louisiana Tech University from 2000-2003, helping the Bulldogs sign two nationally ranked recruiting classes. This included a top-10 class in 2003, which followed a 2002 season that the Bulldogs posted a 22-10 record and went 2-1 in the National Invitational Tournament, marking their first postseason appearance in 10 years. Forbes also did a short stint at Illinois State before being hired at Texas A&M in 2004.
While with the Aggies, Forbes helped transform the team in just two seasons from a team that recorded a 7-21 record the previous year and hadn’t received a postseason invitation in 11 years to a program that averaged more than 21 wins in his two seasons and advanced to postseason play both years. Some notables from his time in Aggieland include posting back-to-back seasons with the
most Big 12 wins in school history, an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), advancing to the NCAA Tournament during the 2005-06 season for the first time since 1987 while also defeating Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and landing two top-10 ranked recruiting classes in the nation.
In 2006, Forbes made his way to Rocky Top, taking a job at the University of Tennessee, where he helped coach the Vols to an average of 26 wins per year and advanced to four consecutive NCAA tournaments while making three Sweet Sixteen appearances and advancing to the program’s first-ever Elite Eight in 2010. In 2011, Forbes went to Northwest Florida State, where he led the Raiders to a 62-6 overall record during his two-year tenure. Five of his junior college players also transferred to Division I schools after he coached them.
Forbes then made his way back to the Division I ranks in 2013, going to Wichita State, where he helped them to two of the most successful seasons in program history. In two years, the Shockers went 65-6, including an NCAA tournament run during the 2013-14 season, where they won an NCAA record 35-straight games before losing to the eventual National Runner-up Kentucky in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The 35-1 record shattered all of WSU’s and the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) winning streak records, including Indiana State’s 33-game record in 1977. In the same season, the Shockers entered the NCAA Tournament as the number one seed for the first time in program history.
After a successful two-year run at Wichita State, Forbes found his way to East Tennessee State in 2015, where he spent five years. He finished his five-season run with the Buccaneers with 130 wins and a .748 winning percentage, finishing at 130-48 overall. In his first four seasons at ETSU, Forbes coached 10 All-Southern Conference selections, including Desonta Bradford earning Player of the Year and Bo Hodges claiming Freshman of the Year honors in 2017-18.
Forbes then found his way back to the “Power Four” ranks in 2020, as he was named the 23
rd head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Men’s Basketball program on April 30
th of 2020. At the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, Forbes earned his third postseason appearance with the Demon Deacons. During the course of his tenure at Wake Forest, Forbes totaled 110 wins and accounted for one Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year, one ACC Most Improved Player, four First Team All-ACC honorees, two Second Team All-ACC plaudits, and one All-ACC Honorable Mention. Forbes also tallied one CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All-American.
Since 2000, Forbes has coached or recruited 14 players who have either been drafted to the NBA or have signed undrafted free agent contracts. The list of draft picks also includes four first-round picks and four second-round picks, with the highest being Acie Law III, who was drafted 11
th overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 2007.
