Notre Dame/Wake Forest still set for Charlotte, for now

Despite what Brian Kelly told Mike Tirico earlier this week, Notre Dame and Wake Forest is still set for Charlotte per the Wake Forest AD.

Earlier this week Brian Kelly made the media rounds.  On his stop with Mike Tirico on NBCSN, he mentioned that Notre Dame’s neutral site games in NFL stadiums may be moving back to college campuses in 2020.

That’s not the case for at least one of those games.

At least not yet.

Notre Dame’s contest at Wake Forest is scheduled to be played September 26 in Charlotte instead of at Wake’s home field.  Despite what Kelly told Tirico, Wake Forest’s athletic director says otherwise.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

“We’re all ahead on Charlotte, excited about the opportunity,” Currie said. “Candidly, the demand for tickets would far exceed what we can fill at BB&T Field, especially if we have to take — as we would assume now — some sort of social distancing parameters.

“We’ll continue to evaluate the situation and obviously be in communication with (Athletics Director) Jack Swarbrick and the Notre Dame department.” – John Currie, Wake Forest Athletic Director

Bank of America Field in Charlotte has a capacity of nearly 2.5 times that of Wake Forest’s home, BB&T Field.  Even if only half capacity at games is allowed this football season the game would likely draw a larger crowd in Charlotte with those restrictions than it would on a regular game day at Wake Forest.

Swarbrick, Kelly and the rest of the Notre Dame athletic department might be trying to move games back to college campuses but it certainly doesn’t seem like that’s happening.

At least not yet.

Tennessee basketball transfer changes destination

Tennessee basketball transfer changes destination.

WINSTON-SALEM – Former Tennessee guard Jalen Johnson announced he would be entering the transfer portal in late March, and was planning on attending East Tennessee State to play for former Tennessee assistant Steve Forbes.

Since Johnson’s announcement, Forbes was hired by former Tennessee and current Wake Forest Athletics Director John Currie to be the head basketball coach of the Deamon Deacons.

Johnson announced on his Twitter account Monday that he would be following Forbes to Winston-Salem.

Johnson averaged 3.5 points per game and 2 rebounds per contest when coming off the bench for Tennessee last season.

John Currie hires Steve Forbes as head coach at Wake Forest

John Currie hires Steve Forbes as head coach at Wake Forest.

WINSTON-SALEM — A former University of Tennessee assistant men’s basketball coach is off to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Former Tennessee assistant coach Steve Forbes has been hired to replace Danny Manning as head basketball coach at Wake Forest. He was hired by former Tennessee Director of Athletics John Currie, who now holds the same position with the Demon Deacons.

Forbes, who coached in Knoxville under Bruce Pearl from 2006-11, was most recently the head coach at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.

He was head coach for five seasons and compiled a record of 130-43 at ETSU.

Forbes guided the Buccaneers to the Southern Conference regular-season title and the Soouthern Conference Tournament championship in the 2019-20 season. He was named the conference coach of the year twice (2017, 2020) and guided ETSU to a 30-4 record last season. The Bucs were headed to the NCAA Tournament until the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended the college basketball season.