Reported this last night as a rumor…now confirmed by Western Kentucky’s press release:

WKU head men’s basketball coach Ray Harper announced Monday the hiring of 16-year collegiate coaching veteran Shawn Forrest as assistant men’s basketball coach. Forrest spent the 2012-13 season at Louisiana-Lafayette, and prior to his time in Lafayette, Forrest had been an assistant coach at North Texas, Arkansas State and Troy, as well as Florida A&M.

A 1998 graduate of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Forrest helped the Ragin’ Cajuns to the quarterfinals of the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament after coming to Louisiana-Lafayette after spending four seasons from 2008-09 to 2011-12 as an assistant coach at North Texas.

"I am really looking forward to working with Coach Harper and the rest of the staff and student-athletes here at WKU," Forrest said. "The job Coach Harper has done in the last two seasons is very impressive, and I think that WKU is one of the best basketball jobs in the country. It is not every day you get a chance to coach at a school that has been to the Final Four. I have admired this program for a while, and I could not turn down the job when Coach Harper called."

While with the Mean Green, Forrest worked with teams that averaged over 21 wins per season. In 2009-10, the Mean Green went 24-9, won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament crown and advanced to the NCAA Tournament and faced Kansas State in the first round.

Forrest was instrumental in helping land the 2010-11 recruiting class of Tony Mitchell, Jordan Williams, Chris Jones and Roger Franklin, which was ranked as high as No. 31 in the country.

Prior to moving to Denton, Forrest worked as an assistant coach at Arkansas State for six seasons from 2002-03 through 2007-08. He helped the Red Wolves to multiple top-100 recruiting classes, which included a pair of two-time All-Sun Belt Conference players, a Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year, a league-leading scorer, a second-leading scorer and a third-leading scorer.

Forrest joined the Red Wolf staff in August 2002 after serving as the recruiting coordinator at Florida A&M during the 2001-02 season.

While at Florida A&M, Forrest helped the Rattlers to a fourth-place finish in the MEAC, which was the highest the program had finished in 10 years. Forrest also recruited Terrance Woods, who was a two-time All-MEAC First Team performer. Woods holds the third- and fourth-best single-season three-point field goal totals in NCAA history, and in 2004 he won the NABC All-Star Three-Point Contest at the Final Four in San Antonio.

Prior to his stint in Tallahassee, Forrest was an assistant at Troy for four seasons from 1997-98 to 2000-01. During that time, Forrest worked with the guards and assisted with recruiting, academics and travel.

During his time at Troy, Forrest helped land four-straight top-100 recruiting classes, which produced five all-conference players and two players of the year in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Forrest helped the Trojans to two regular-season Atlantic Sun championships, one tournament title, one NCAA Tournament appearance and one postseason NIT appearance.

Forrest received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 1998.

Coaching Career

Troy, assistant coach, 1998-2001 (4 seasons)

Florida A&M, assistant coach, 2002 (1 season)

Arkansas State, assistant coach, 2003-08 (6 seasons)

North Texas, assistant coach, 2009-12 (4 seasons)

Louisiana-Lafayette, assistant coach, 2013 (1 season)

WKU, assistant coach, 2014-present

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