Midwest notes: Reports have WSU assistant Forbes becoming East Tennessee State’s coach

CLEVELAND – Multiple reports on Thursday night had Wichita State assistant coach Steve Forbes leaving the Shockers to become the coach at East Tennessee State, with an announcement expected from the school on Monday.

Forbes declined comment as to whether or not he’d taken the job.

“I’m obviously in the mix for it,” Forbes said after WSU lost to Notre Dame 81-70 in the Sweet 16. “But tonight doesn’t seem like the right time to talk about it yet, after we lost. I want it to be about the kids right now. And I haven’t spoken to (WSU coach Gregg) Marshall yet, I haven’t spoken to any of my players yet ... tonight just isn’t the right time.”

Forbes spent the last two seasons as an assistant at WSU, coming to the Shockers after spending two seasons as the coach at Northwest Florida State, a junior college. Forbes was previously an assistant at Tennessee and Texas A&M.

If the reports are true, it would be the second season in a row Marshall has had an assistant coach move on — Chris Jans left after last season to become the coach at Bowling Green.

Either way, it’s a lot — WSU senior associate athletic director Darron Boatright and ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell got into a Twitter dispute over WSU season-ticket prices at Koch Arena during the Shockers’ loss to Notre Dame.

Rovell tweeted that $20,000 per year can buy 16 season tickets in the lower bowl for WSU home games, citing a source in WSU’s marketing department.

Boatright responded quickly.

“ALL INACCURATE. #FACTCHECK,” Boatright tweeted.

Rovell replied that he’d been told the information by WSU’s outgoing head of marketing, John Brewer, who has taken a job at Oregon.

Boatright replied: “well.......I sell the tickets and that is completely inaccurate. Talk to marketing about dancing dogs.”

After the game, Boatright offered an explanation as to why he said the numbers were wrong after Rovell sent him a link to WSU’s Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization membership benefits for 2014-15.

“What (Rovell) is looking at is the annual SASO contribution chart,” Boatright said. “The right to purchase tickets in the lower bowl requires an annual campaign contribution. Four seats in the lower bowl would be a commitment of $100,000 over five years, so $20,000 a year, for five years, for the the right to then pay SASO annually for the right to purchase (tickets) annually.”

According to Boatright’s numbers, Rovell was off by $80,000 and 12 tickets.

Locker-room scene – Fred VanVleet broke the silence.

“Can somebody get me a Coke?” VanVleet announced as he entered the Wichita State locker room following an 81-70 loss to Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Locker room attendees scrambled to track down VanVleet’s beverage.

Silence filled WSU’s locker room but sadness rarely emerged. Seniors Tekele Cotton and Darius Carter sniffled through some of their answers to reporters and Evan Wessel occasionally stumbled over his words, but tears never appeared.

Either the impact of a season-ending defeat hadn’t yet hit the Shockers or they had all gone through most of their emotional processes before reporters entered the room 15 minutes after the buzzer.

Or maybe they immediately realized they were beaten by a superior team.

“They shot the ball like crazy,” Cotton said. “They were just a great team.”

It was easy to see that WSU had just endured defeat, but it wasn’t obvious that the Shockers’ season was over. The only signs of dejection were one player covering his head with a towel and many others finding it difficult to look away from their phones.

The only realization on which WSU seemed to find a consensus was that the Irish had a better night.

“Notre Dame just hit shots,” WSU freshman Shaq Morris said. “It seemed like they wouldn’t miss.”

Cotton’s end – Cotton’s career ended with a quintessential defensive effort. Cotton, a 6-foot-3 guard, held Notre Dame leading scorer Jerian Grant scoreless In the first half and nine points on 3-of-8 shooting overall.

Offense never came for Cotton, though. He missed 8 of 10 shots and needed a late unguarded layup to finish with six points. He misfired on each of three three-pointers.

Cotton reached 1,000 career points earlier this season. He is regarded as WSU’s best defender in years and became enough of a threat offensively to achieve well-roundedness during his career.

A career he didn’t want to end.

“It’s a tough feeling, of course,” Cotton said. “…(The hardest part) for me personally is that it’s over with. I’m going to lock that door and I’ve got a whole other journey to complete.

“I love my school. I’ve had a great career here. I’m proud of myself, and I love what they do here.”

Freshmen struggle – Morris flashed his scoring potential in the first half with a pretty basket off the backboard. It was his only basket as he battled foul trouble while not serving as one of WSU’s top options during an attempted rally.

Zach Brown missed 4 of 5 shots, including three three-pointers, and couldn’t build on two NCAA Tournament games where he combined for 18 points and eight rebounds.

Those two, along with fellow freshmen Bush Wamukota and Rashard Kelly, didn’t make the most out of their minutes. Kelly had two baskets, but Morris and Brown, particularly, seemed overwhelmed by the moment at times.

“It’s a sign of a maturity from my standpoint,” Brown said. “I can get pretty frustrated, but as time goes on I’ve got to learn to do what I need to do to brush it off and keep it moving and see what I can do to help the team win.”

Morris said Thursday’s game didn’t feel different from those against Indiana and Kansas in WSU’s first two games, even with greater stakes.

“It’s pretty much just another game,” Morris said. “The atmosphere was pretty much the same. Nothing about it being the Sweet 16 was getting to me or anything.”

They can defend – Notre Dame’s defense doesn’t get much attention. The Irish sounded more proud of that effort than their offense.

WSU missed 15 of 18 three-pointers and no Shockers other than VanVleet or Carter reached double figures. WSU shot 40 percent for the game.

“Our defense definitely sparks it,” Irish senior Pat Connaughton said. “When we’re in that timeout, like Coach (Mike Brey) said, it wasn’t about strategy. We talked about defense, about getting stops and getting out and running. That’s the fun way to play and that’s the way that we’re at our best on both ends of the floor.”

The Shockers ended the season in a slump from behind the arc. While they made 10 of 20 in Sunday’s win over Kansas, they made 10 of 47 in the three previous games.

Notre Dame’s defense wasn’t the whole story. In the first half, WSU drove to rim with little resistance and missed several shots in the lane. They missed several open three-pointers, as well.

“We had some good looks,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “Ron and Fred and Tekele (Cotton) had some really good looks, we just didn’t make them.”

Thomas is tatted — Kentucky superfan Thomas Younce has you beat when it comes to supporting your team with tattoos.

Younce, from Haysi, Va., was in Cleveland for the undefeated Wildcats’ Sweet 16 game against West Virginia on Thursday, sporting an enormous amount of Kentucky-related tattoos -- including a capital “U” and “K” tattooed above each eye.

“I just love my team, I try to go to every game I can,” Younce said. “The tattoos are one way I show that love. My wife is usually with me, but she couldn’t make this trip because my daughter is pregnant.”

Haysi also has the interlocking “UK” on his left arm, surrounded by the years commemorating the Wildcats’ national championships, and a giant “U” and “K” on both of his hands, with “WILDCATS” across his knuckles.

Under his right eye, he has “CATS CATS CATS” tattooed. Under his left eye, the same in lowercase letters: “cats cats cats.”

And if the Wildcats can continue their run to the national title undefeated, he says he’s ready to add one to commemorate their season.

“I want 40-0 to happen, and when it does I’m going to get a tat where everybody can see it,” Younce said.

Like where?

“Like here,” Younce said, pointing to the right side of his head.

An Eagle picture of Younce at the game was picked up and tweeted out by the Twitter account @SportsNation, which has 2.7 million followers.

How tall? — Notre Dame forward Zach Auguste sensed a matchup advantage against Wichita State in the post on Wednesday when asked about matching about with someone around his size in WSU forward Darius Carter, who is 6-foot-7.

“He’s good, for sure,”Auguste said. “But he’s not my size. I’m 6-foot-10, actually. Not 6-8, not 6-9.”

Auguste punctuated each half with thunderous dunks — a two-handed stuff in the lane in the first half and a two-handed alley-oop in the second half. He finished with 15 points and six rebounds.

“We thought we had an advantage in the post,” Auguste said. “And we feel like we exploited it.”

Not enough pep – The Shocker pep band nearly missed the tipoff of Thursday’s game because members were held up in downtown Cleveland traffic.

Jordan Northerns, director of the Shocker Sound band, said the band normally tries to get to the arena an hour or more before gametime to perform a pregame set list and mentally prepare for their performance.

On Thursday, members hurried into their spots behind the basket 10 minutes before tipoff.

“This late in the season we can get here and just get started, so it was no problem,” Northerns said at halftime. “But we knew we were cutting it close.”

The band performed at a pep rally at the Westin hotel in downtown Cleveland, normally a quick drive to Quicken Loans Arena. But the pep rally ran long, and rush-hour traffic combined with Sweet 16 traffic delayed the band’s bus ride.

While the bus was stopped in traffic, band members considered hoofing it several blocks to the arena. “But that’s a little harder when you’ve got tubas,” Northerns said.

The band’s absence meant their rival Notre Dame band played the entire pregame, and some Shocker fans wondered out loud and on social media about its whereabouts.

“We appreciate everyone’s concern,” Northerns said.

Familiar faces — Former Wichita State athletic director Jim Schaus is observing the regional, part of his duties as a future member of the NCAA selection committee. Schaus, athletic director at Ohio, joins the 10-person committee on Sept. 1.

He spent the weekend taking notes and talking to prepare for those duties. Schaus and Duke athletic director Kevin White join the committee, which also includes Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen.

“It’s a lot of work,” Schaus said. “And it’s a lot of fun.”

Schaus was athletic director at WSU from 1999-2008.

Brian Pracht, a former senior associate athletic director at WSU, has been assistant athletic director at Notre Dame since 2013. He works in marketing for the football and men’s basketball programs.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Midwest notes: Reports have WSU assistant Forbes becoming East Tennessee State’s coach."