Wake Forest men’s basketball coach Steve Forbes confirmed on Monday, nearly a full month after his wife had a stroke, that he plans to lead the Demon Deacons this fall.
Steve’s wife, Johnetta Forbes, sustained the stroke on Aug. 8 and is now receiving treatment at a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta. Steve said that his wife is now regaining movement on her left side, didn’t suffer any memory damage and is now making “incremental” progress.
Johnetta is determined to walk when she leaves the facility later this month, he said. He shared posts on social media of her working toward that goal recently, too.
With the progress that she’s making, Steve said he plans to still be with Wake Forest during preseason practices, workouts and more as scheduled this fall.
“As far as stepping away, no,” Steve said, via The Associated Press. “First of all, I don’t think that’s what my wife would want. I don’t think that would help her recover. I think she needs me to be doing what I’m doing. So we just had to work it out, a plan.”
Johnetta was with their three children in Destin, Florida, last month when she had her stroke. Steve was in Kuwait at the time working with the basketball outreach program Operation Hardwood.
Thankfully, Steve said, their kids were there to help take her to the hospital.
“She goes down [to Destin] a lot by herself,” Steve said, via The Associated Press. “And I have a bad feeling that if she’d have been by herself, she might’ve just went back to bed.”
Steve said he plans to split his time between Atlanta with his wife and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, until Johnetta returns to their home near campus, too.
“It has never really crossed my mind,” Steve said of taking a leave of absence, via The Associated Press. “Now, that’s after seeing her progress, right? Had she not, then maybe we’d be having a different conversation.”
Steve is preparing to enter his fourth season at Wake Forest this fall. They went 19-14 last season. The Deacons will start practice officially on Sept. 25, three days after Johnetta is set to go home, and then they’ll open the season on Nov. 6.