September 07, 2004
Steve Forbes has been hired as an assistant men's basketball coach at Texas A&M, first-year head coach Billy Gillispie said Tuesday.
Forbes completes Gillispie's staff, joining Alvin Brooks and Buzz Williams.
"I'm really excited about having Steve join our staff," Gillispie said. "He's been a head coach on the junior college level and has unbelieveable recruiting contacts. Everyone I talked with kept saying he was a guy I needed to add to my staff. I'm looking forward to him and his family joining the community and helping us build our program."
The 39-year-old Forbes served as an assistant last season at Illinois State. Prior to that, he was an assistant for three seasons at Louisiana Tech and was credited with landing a pair of nationally-ranked recruiting classes, including a top-10 class in 2003.
In his three seasons, Tech twice posted winning records and received a National Invitation Tournament bid in 2002, its first postseason action in 10 years.
Forbes served at Idaho from 1998-2000, the first as an assistant coach and the second as associate head coach. During his first season with the Vandals, he helped the team improve to a 16-11 record. The team jumped from 10th in the league in scoring the previous season to second in the Big West Conference.
Prior to Idaho, Forbes was the head coach at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan., from 1995-98, compiling a record of 68-28. His teams produced three all-Americans, twcie finished the season with a national rankings and and defeated 15 nationally-ranked teams.
In 1991, Forbes became head coach at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, where he posted a 36-27 record in two years. He served the previous two years as an assistant coach at the school. Forbes left Southwestern to accept an assistant coaching position at Barton County CC in 1993.
Two of Forbes players have been drafted by the National Basketball Association. At Barton County, Alexander Radojevic became a lottery pick for the Toronto Raptors and at Idaho, Kaniel Dickens was a second-round selection for the Utah Jazz.
Forbes graduated from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Ark., in 1988. While playing baseball for the Muleriders, he earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education.
Forbes and his wife, Johnetta, have three children.