As he moves up from mid-major to Power Five, here’s why I will always respect and admire Steve Forbes:
Back when I worked for ETSU, for a shining moment, I had the opportunity to be the primary radio voice of Bucs’ men’s basketball. For reasons too long to explain here, the gig started about halfway through the season, and the move caught me by surprise and had me scrambling to find my footing in what is – for this area – a very high-profile broadcasting job.
Other coaches in Forbes’ position wouldn’t have given me the proverbial time of day. Look at the dynamic: He was the successful coach of a successful program on the rise, and I was some new guy still sorting through the fallout of a major professional reconfiguration.
But he literally could not have been nicer. In interview situations, he gave straight answers to my comparatively uninformed questions, even in the post-game show after a frustrating loss. He was patient with technical problems within a broadcast. He made a point to shake my hand before every tipoff. Win or lose, he was always easy to talk to. His demeanor never changed.
Forbes did a magnificent job of both restoring ETSU to its former glory and putting it on a championship path. He faces serious rebuilding challenges in Winston-Salem, but if past is prologue….
“The measure of a man is how he treats his inferiors and that will be the test of a man in the days to come.”
-- Dr. M. C. B. Mason, 1911
Back when I worked for ETSU, for a shining moment, I had the opportunity to be the primary radio voice of Bucs’ men’s basketball. For reasons too long to explain here, the gig started about halfway through the season, and the move caught me by surprise and had me scrambling to find my footing in what is – for this area – a very high-profile broadcasting job.
Other coaches in Forbes’ position wouldn’t have given me the proverbial time of day. Look at the dynamic: He was the successful coach of a successful program on the rise, and I was some new guy still sorting through the fallout of a major professional reconfiguration.
But he literally could not have been nicer. In interview situations, he gave straight answers to my comparatively uninformed questions, even in the post-game show after a frustrating loss. He was patient with technical problems within a broadcast. He made a point to shake my hand before every tipoff. Win or lose, he was always easy to talk to. His demeanor never changed.
Forbes did a magnificent job of both restoring ETSU to its former glory and putting it on a championship path. He faces serious rebuilding challenges in Winston-Salem, but if past is prologue….
“The measure of a man is how he treats his inferiors and that will be the test of a man in the days to come.”
-- Dr. M. C. B. Mason, 1911
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