"We welcome him and his family to Deacon Nation and I'm looking forward to supporting him and his staff as they build a championship program both on and off the court."

Currie said last weekend that, despite the COVID-19 necessitated period between the end of the season and the announcement on Danny Manning’s firing last weekend, he expected the process for hiring a new coach to move “rather quickly.”

That translated to finishing the search less than a week after ending Manning’s tenure at six seasons. The timing also means that Currie wrapped up the hiring of a new coach for the department’s flagship program on the eve of his one-year anniversary of taking over for Ron Wellman.

Forbes has been a winner at every level. His five-year stint at East Tennessee State wraps up at 130-43 with one NCAA Tournament appearance, in 2017, and this season's team would have gone if the event hadn’t been canceled. Forbes has worked as an assistant at Texas A&M, Tennessee and Wichita State.

His ledger includes a firing in lieu of an NCAA investigation while he was at Tennessee. Head coach Bruce Pearl and his staff, including Forbes, were fired for rules violations and misleading testimony. Forbes was given a one-year show cause penalty.