Following up on a rumor from earlier this month (Daily Dirt – 8/12/16)…

Shawn Forrest has been named an assistant men’s basketball coach at SMU, Head Coach Tim Jankovich announced today. Forrest comes to the Hilltop with 18 years of college coaching experience.

“Shawn is a great addition to our program,” says Jankovich. “He is incredibly well-liked and respected in the basketball community. He will bring a lot to our program as a recruiter, strategist and mentor.”

“I am excited for the opportunity to join Coach Jankovich’s staff at SMU,” says Forrest. “Coach Jankovich is one of the best minds in the game and very well respected throughout the country. His vision, the Moody Magic and an opportunity to help build upon what SMU basketball has accomplished over the last four years was something I simply couldn’t pass up. I look forward to contributing to the championship tradition and culture at SMU.”

Forrest was at Western Kentucky the past three seasons (2013-16), where he helped the Hilltoppers to back-to-back 20-win seasons while coaching two-time all-conference selections in T.J. Price and George Fant.

Before heading to Bowling Green, Forrest spent the 2012-13 season as an assistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette where he helped mentor Elfrid Payton and Shawn Long. Payton went on to become the 10th overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft while Long would later become Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.

Forrest also spent time at North Texas. In 2011, he helped land a recruiting class that was ranked as high as No. 31 in the country. Among the signees was Tony Mitchell who later became the highest NBA Draft pick in North Texas history when he was selected No. 37 overall by the Detroit Pistons. He helped UNT to three consecutive seasons of 20-plus wins, highlighted in 2009-10 when the Mean Green went 24-9, won the Sun Belt Conference West Division and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to that, Forrest spent six seasons (2002-08) at Arkansas State where he played a critical part in 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 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 got his start in collegiate coaching as a graduate assistant at Troy for three seasons from 1998-2001. During that time, Forrest worked with the guards and assisted with recruiting, academics and travel.

Forrest was a standout on the basketball team at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1998. He and his wife, Renea, have three daughters, Abri, Aaliyah and Alyssa.