Per Jeff Goodman of Field of 68, Steve Forbes has the support of AD John Currie, and is fully expected to return next season to coach at Wake Forest.
Forbes is 106-78 (0.576) in his 6 years as the head coach at Wake Forest and has won over 20 games in 3
of his 5 full seasons at the helm. While he has definitely raised the standard for the Deacs and gotten Wake back to a more competitive level as compared to his predecessors, Forbes has yet to make the NCAA Tournament in his 5 seasons—barring an unlikely run in the ACC Tournament, that drought will continue to a 6th year in March. Wake’s 15th ranked recruiting class for 2026, which includes 3 players in the top 75, was likely a factor in this decision.
Anonymous reports are never completely reliable, but Goodman seems to have solid sources at Wake. Back in the 2018-19 season, he reported that Danny Manning’s buyout was a whopping $18 million—the Deacs would go on to pay Manning $14.7mil after firing him a season later. Based on that, I think it’s probably a very good bet that Forbes is back next season. I don’t know what the “something crazy” would have to be for Forbes to not return, but there were some rumors that Kansas State was interested in hiring him as their head coach next season.
Wake Forest basketball is at a crossroads. The Deacs are reportedly in the bottom tier of NIL spending in the conference, and the results speak for themselves. If the administration still believes the basketball program can be the powerhouse it was in the 90s and early 2000s, they are going to have pony up and find away to spend more on players. The cost of good players is rising every year, and the talent gap between Wake and their peers is only going to get bigger. Regardless of who the coach is, without upping the amount they spend on the roster, the ceiling for the program is probably going to be a middle of the pack ACC team that is on the bubble pretty much every year. That is simply the reality of college sports in the NIL era.
