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Danny Manning replacement search thread

If Wes sucks we’ll never be able to fire him. I can’t imagine he’d ever be as bad as Manning but I’d have a little hesitation about entering yet another period of an unfireable coach.
 
89deac said:
Forbes is a very intriguing candidate. His resume is terrific. The questions are around two issues. One, he was part of recruiting violations at Tennessee that got the staff fired. Second, he relies heavily on juco players at ETSU. He would have to be willing to embrace our admissions standards and focus solely on HS kids and possibly a few transfers. Currie worked with him at Tennessee so he no doubt has a strong opinion on him one way or the other. If he checks out ok after vetting these 2 areas then I think he would be a great choice.
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Recruiting violations?

Questions if he could recruit non-jucos?

So, what you’re saying is there is no chance we hire this Forbes guy.
 
06deacon said:
If Wes sucks we’ll never be able to fire him. I can’t imagine he’d ever be as bad as Manning but I’d have a little hesitation about entering yet another period of an unfireable coach.
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Yeah. The fear is that he’ll get to an NIT or two every five years and a NCAA weekend once every 10 years and turns that into a lifetime contract.
 
buckets said:
for all the hype around steve forbes... don't ETSU and UNCG have about the same record since 2017? and wes is from NC, no scandals, and 18 years younger

i'm just not sure how wes can be an absurd suggestion but steve forbes is a totally legit candidate
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The key point between the two is the age. Wes has a nice resume and is very young. That gives you a lot more upside. I like Steve Forbes a lot but being 18 years younger is a big plus.

If he works out, then you could have someone that can build the program for 30 years or more.

There is some risk with Miller but he has the greatest upside of the likely candidates. With the state of the program, this is the time to to take a high stakes gamble over playing it safe.

I think there is a group of posters that dislike Donald Ross so much that they cannot objectively consider Miller.
 
buckets said:
for all the hype around steve forbes... don't ETSU and UNCG have about the same record since 2017? and wes is from NC, no scandals, and 18 years younger

i'm just not sure how wes can be an absurd suggestion but steve forbes is a totally legit candidate
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The difference between Forbes and Miller is experience. Their records for the past 4+ seasons as a head coach are similar. Forbes is 117-41 overall and 61-18 in conference. Miller is 110-49 and 58-20. Prior to those years, Miller had a record of 45-73 overall and 29-38 in conference in four years as head coach at UNCG. Prior to that he had 3 years of experience as an assistant at Elon, High Point and UNCG learning his craft. Forbes spent two years at Idaho, three years at Louisiana Tech and one year at Illinois State. Six years in the minors for Forbes and three for Miller. The big difference is Forbes nine years as an assistant and top recruiter at very successful D1 programs. In nine years under Billy Gillispie, Bruce Pearl and Greg Marshall those teams went 231-68 and went to the Dance seven times. Four Sweet Sixteens and two Elite Eights in nine years as an assistant. He has learned how to get to the Dance and have success once there. That is equivalent to the best six seasons of Wake Forest basketball from 1990-2010. That is the difference.
 
Complacent Deac said:
Recruiting violations?

Questions if he could recruit non-jucos?

So, what you’re saying is there is no chance we hire this Forbes guy.
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He was on staff when Pearl got in trouble for hosting a BBQ for a recruit (purposely violating NCAA rules) and then encourage the recruit & his family to deny it ever happened. I haven't seen any reports as to whether Forbes was involved in the actual violations or was just caught up when Tennessee cleaned house of Pearl's influence.
 
Forbes received a 1 year show cause from the NCAA. It sounds like it was essentially for covering for Pearl in the barbecue incident. Not sure how Currie will view that.
 
netflixnchildres said:
Cool story, except at Tennessee and Wichita State where he helped recruit 8 top-100 players. He's been scouting high school players since Adidas ABCD camp was a thing. BTW that same line of thinking really worked well with Nate Oats, who landed a 4* top 100 player his first year at Alabama.
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He has 10, that’s right 10 transfers on his team, and numerous JUCO’s. That WILL NOT FLY at Wake. Big time donors and alums are going to immediately rule him out. Not saying it’s right, just saying I don’t see it happening at Wake Forest. Completely agree with you that he can recruit and coach though. Pulling in transfers itself is recruiting. Obviously he’s been able to find quality players.

There are plenty of other quality coaches on the market that will commit to Wake, and can coach us to NCAA tournaments. Wake just has to find the right one.
 
deacon22 said:
1. Thad Matta

2. Shaka Smart
3. Steve Forbes




276. Wes Miller
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These are the type of lists that I just completely don’t understand. First of all, what do you see in Shaka Smart, given that the only reason he’d be a candidate at Wake would be because he got fired? Number two, if Steve Forbes is 3, how is Wes Miller 276? What is the big difference between the two mid majors that have gone back and forth playing each other year in and year out? This is the first time ETSU has been in the lead for the conference since 16-17, where UNCG was in 2nd place. In 17-18, UNCG won the conference standings with ETSU in second. In 18-19 Wofford won the standings with UNCG in 2nd and ETSU in fourth. These two coaches are very clearly equal in their conference, and have proven that they are both winners. I don’t understand how you could have Forbes at 3, and Miller at 276.
 
SDDeac said:
These are the type of lists that I just completely don’t understand. First of all, what do you see in Shaka Smart, given that the only reason he’d be a candidate at Wake would be because he got fired? Number two, if Steve Forbes is 3, how is Wes Miller 276? What is the big difference between the two mid majors that have gone back and forth playing each other year in and year out? This is the first time ETSU has been in the lead for the conference since 16-17, where UNCG was in 2nd place. In 17-18, UNCG won the conference standings with ETSU in second. In 18-19 Wofford won the standings with UNCG in 2nd and ETSU in fourth. These two coaches are very clearly equal in their conference, and have proven that they are both winners. I don’t understand how you could have Forbes at 3, and Miller at 276.
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Forbes is a proven recruiter and winner at the P5 level. Miller has been able to build UNCG for 9 years with no P5 experience on his resume. Forbes is a much, much safer choice at this time. What really matters is the gap between Matta and the field; It’s a big gap.
 
deacon22 said:
Forbes is a proven recruiter and winner at the P5 level. Miller has been able to build UNCG for 9 years with no P5 experience on his resume. Forbes is a much, much safer choice at this time. What really matters is the gap between Matta and the field; It’s a big gap.
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The other guy I would put in the top group is John Beilein, if he became available.
 
Not arguing for or against Forbes but I find the JUCO argument pretty flimsy. Why does anyone think Forbes, because he's had success doing things one way at one school, couldn't adapt to doing a different thing at WFU? It's not like ETSU is remotely similar to Wake. I know there's a very particular set of expectations here such that it takes a certain type of coach to be willing to accept those restrictions (Clawson, as an obvious example). However, people aren't holding his recruiting or assistant experience at Tenn or Wichita against him. Maybe... he's smart and flexible enough to figure out the best way to win in a given environment.

However, if you simply do not believe that Forbes can or will succeed without JUCOs and transfers, go for it.
 
Bless all of our hearts. We just keep having the same conversations with the same names over and over again. For years. And yet nothing ever changes. Check that: the ONE TIME something exciting could have potentially happened within this ten year span of misery, we chose an arguably WORSE coach than the one we fired. We're so shellshocked. Bless all of our hearts.
 
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