Carolina gives Forbes five-year contract extention

By R.L. Bynum

After getting Carolina into the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons as head coach and on his way to doing it for a third consecutive year, UNC signed baseball coach Scott Forbes to a five-year contract extension on Friday.

The new contract means that Forbes, whose team won its third consecutive game Thursday night with a 9–8 victory over rival N.C. State, is under contract through the 2028 season.

“Being the head coach at the University of North Carolina is a tremendous honor,” Forbes said. “Two of the foundational pillars of our program are thankfulness and servanthood — they ring particularly true for me today.”

In his nearly three seasons, UNC is 101–66, and the Sanford native joined his predecessor, Mike Fox, as the only two coaches to lead the program to the NCAA tournament in their first two seasons as head coach. In his first season, Forbes guided the program into the postseason in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forbes is in his 22nd season on the Tar Heels’ coaching staff and his 18th consecutive year. He has helped lead UNC to 17 NCAA tournament appearances, seven College World Series trips, seven ACC Coastal Division titles and four ACC tournament championships. Fox was an assistant coach at Winthrop from 2003 to 2005 before returning to UNC in 2006 to become the pitching coach.

“Carolina baseball continues to be in excellent hands under the leadership of Coach Scott Forbes,” UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham said in a school release. “He is dedicated not only to developing strong baseball players, but also to mentoring successful students who care about academics and giving back to the Carolina community.”

Last season, Forbes’ team staged an amazing late-season surge to win the program’s eighth ACC title and earn its 10th NCAA Super Regional appearance.

UNC has won more than 900 games with Forbes on staff, averaging 42 victories per season. This season the Tar Heels have drawn a school-record average of 2,809 fans per game and will attract more than 100,000 people during the regular season for the first time.

Forbes hit .321 while playing at North Carolina Wesleyan, leading the team to two Dixie Conference titles.