ESPN provides update Steve Forbes' wife amid stroke recovery, how it has changed him

Life can be bigger than sports, and that’s okay.

Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes was forced to face this reality before the start of the 2023-24 college basketball season. The incident went on to reshape his perspective on life in recent months.

“Six months ago, Steve Forbes was met with one of those moments when he received a call from his daughter, saying that his wife, Johnetta, had suffered a stroke,” ESPN sideline reporter Angel Gray said during the broadcast between Wake Forest and Duke. “At that time he was actually on a work trip in Kuwait over 7,000 miles away. He was able to rejoin [his family] 70 hours later and that’s when the doctors told him it would be a three year journey.

“He said immediately he went into coach mode. He said it’s attack mode. He told her, ‘I’m built for this. You’ve been taking care of me for 30 years, now it’s my turn.’ He added as coaches, we talked about resilience, toughness and attention to detail and he said no one exemplifies that more than his wife.”

The incident kept Forbes away from Wake Forest for 42 days as he tended to his wife’s recovery. He didn’t return to the team until midway through September, roughly six weeks until the 2023-24 college basketball season began.

At the time, Forbes said that plan to stay home and focus on his family gave him the best chance to be a great husband, father, caregiver, head men’s basketball coach and mentor to my players

“He said that it has actually made him a better person. He doesn’t take work home now. Now, he goes home and said, ‘You know what? It’s been a great day. We may have taken a loss, but it’s a great day.’

“He’s loving having time with his wife, said she’s trending in the right direction and even at shoot around, something happened in shoot around where they were missing a couple of shots. He came to us and said, ‘It’s okay. It’s a great day. So, [it’s all about] perspective.”

Based on the recent eye-opening events going on in his life, it seems clear that Forbes is using his wife’s strength and love as motivation for coach Wake Forest. The goal is to help his team become better basketball players, and even better men.

It seems to have worked in WF’s favor, as the Demon Deacons have put their foot on the gas in recent weeks. They are ranked No. 4 in the current ACC standings heading into Monday’s matchup against Duke, who is one game ahead of them in third place.