Coach Scott Forbes Breaking Through With His First Top-10 UNC Baseball Team

By David Glenn

 

In the summer of 2020, North Carolina baseball coach Scott Forbes accepted a doubly difficult task.

The long-time Carolina pitching guru was promoted to succeed the retiring Mike Fox, who was by far the most successful coach in the program’s proud history. Complicating matters further, Forbes somehow had to pull off that challenging transition amid a worldwide pandemic.

Forbes’ first three seasons leading the Tar Heels were solid but unspectacular. Each ended with an invitation to the 64-team NCAA Baseball Championship, but each also included a middle-of-the-pack finish in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

In one sense, the Tar Heels were the definition of average, with three consecutive .500 records in league competition: 18-18 in 2021, 15-15 in 2022, and 14-14 in 2023. On the other hand, there were three very impressive highlights in 2022, when Carolina won the ACC Tournament, advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals, and finished #13 in the national rankings.

It’s easy to forget, but even some legendary UNC coaches of the past took a while to do truly special things.

Basketball coach Dean Smith didn’t post a first-place ACC finish or an ACC Tournament title until his sixth season as the Tar Heels’ head coach. Football coach Mack Brown didn’t make a bowl game or finish in the national Top 25 until his fifth year in Chapel Hill. Even Fox, who led the Diamond Heels to seven College World Series appearances during his sensational 22-year tenure, didn’t have a first-place ACC divisional finish until his eighth UNC campaign.

Forbes, 49, appears to be having his head coaching breakthrough right now.

“A team that sacrifices the ‘me’ for the ‘we’ is a true team,” Forbes said. “That’s what we have here right now.”

Heading into their regular-season-ending, three-game series this week (Thursday-Friday-Saturday) at #13 Duke, the Tar Heels (39-11, 20-7 ACC) are ranked #4 nationally by Baseball America. With even one win against the Blue Devils or one loss by Clemson in the Tigers’ series against Boston College, Carolina will finish with the best record in ACC play this season.

The 2024 Tar Heels are an impressive blend of hitting and pitching.

Offensively, after bashing 13 home runs in a three-game sweep of Louisville last weekend, the Tar Heels may be within reach of the program record (108 in 2002) in that category. Their 96 dingers are tied with Duke for second in the ACC this season, behind only #7 Wake Forest (100).

Junior center fielder Vance Honeycutt, a strong candidate for ACC Player of the Year and All-America honors, leads UNC with 22 home runs. (He also leads the Heels with 27 stolen bases.) First baseman Parks Harber, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound Georgia transfer, is next with 18. Right fielder Casey Cook (15), designated hitter Alberto Osuna (13) and catcher Luke Stevenson (12) also are in double digits.

“I think (Honeycutt) is the best player in the country,” Forbes said. “You don’t see many guys with that type of size, speed and ability. He’s a game-changer (on the field), but he’s also a game-changer for us in the locker room, because he leads by example. He’s a Dean’s List guy, a phenomenal student, and he has a great work ethic on and off the field.”

Forbes, who played for Fox at North Carolina Wesleyan and then served as his UNC pitching coach for two stretches (1999-2002 and 2006-20), has done perhaps his best work this season with the Carolina pitching staff, which leads the ACC in earned run average (4.17).

All three of UNC’s weekend starters — right-hander Jason DeCaro, lefty Shea Sprague and righty Aidan Haugh — are program newcomers.

DeCaro is the rare true freshman who seems confident and comfortable as the team’s #1 starting pitcher. Sprague, a junior, transferred to Carolina last summer from Elon, where he was a two-time first-team all-conference performer. Haugh, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound junior elevated into the starting rotation in mid-April, played the past two seasons at Fayetteville Tech Community College.

In the bullpen, the Tar Heels are led by dominating sophomore left-hander Dalton Pence, senior right-hander Connor Bovair and steady sophomore righty Matthew Matthijs, whom Forbes calls one of the most improved players on this year’s team.

Last May, UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham gave Forbes a five-year contract extension, through June 2028. The deal includes a base salary of about $340,000 per year, an additional $180,000 per year through Carolina’s long-term contract with Nike, and various performance incentives (e.g., Coastal Division title, ACC regular-season title, ACC Tournament title, NCAA Tournament bid, regional host, Super Regional appearance, College World Series trip, national championship) potentially worth another $300,000 or more per year.

Unlike in his first three seasons as UNC’s head coach, Forbes and the Tar Heels are very well-positioned this year to achieve a stunning number of those lofty goals.

UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes

Year—Overall, ACC (Place), Postseason

2021—28-27, 18-18 (6th), NCAA Regional

2022—42-22, 15-15* (7th), NCAA Super Regional

2023—36-24, 14-14 (7th), NCAA Regional

2024—39-11, 20-7 (1st), TBD

*—ACC Tournament champion

All-Time NCAA Baseball Championship Bids
(NC Division One Programs Only)
Bids — School, Conference

35 — North Carolina, Atlantic Coast Conference
33 — East Carolina, American Athletic Conference
33 — NC State, Atlantic Coast Conference
15 — Wake Forest, Atlantic Coast Conference
12 — Western Carolina, Southern Conference
11 — UNC Wilmington, Coastal Athletic Association
10 — Duke, Atlantic Coast Conference
7 — Campbell, Coastal Athletic Association
7 — Charlotte, American Athletic Conference
6 — Elon, Coastal Athletic Association
4 — Appalachian State, Sun Belt Conference
4 — UNC Greensboro, Southern Conference
2 — North Carolina A&T, Coastal Athletic Association
1 — Davidson, Atlantic-10 Conference
1 — UNC Asheville, Big South Conference
0 — Gardner-Webb, Big South Conference (D1 since 1990)
0 — High Point, Big South Conference (D1 since 2000)
0 — Queens, Atlantic Sun Conference (D1 since 2022-23)

College World Series Trips
(NC Division One Programs Only)
School, Conference — Trips (Most Recent)

North Carolina, ACC — 11 (2018)
NC State, ACC — 3 (2021)
Duke, ACC — 3 (1961)
Wake Forest, ACC — 3 (2023)

(featured image via UNC Athletic Communications)

David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.

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