East Tennessee State officially announced the hiring of Brooks Savage as its next head coach on Monday, snagging a Wake Forest assistant who previously worked there.

Savage worked at ETSU for all five seasons that Steve Forbes was there, from 2015-2020, before joining Forbes in Winston-Salem for the past three seasons.

This is the first head coaching job for Savage, a Tennessee graduate who worked on staff there while Forbes was an assistant. Savage was a student manager and graduate assistant for the Volunteers.

Savage will be the Buccaneers’ third coach since Forbes left in 2020. Jason Shay coached ETSU for a year before resigning amid criticism from state lawmakers for his team’s decision to kneel during the national anthem for a game in February, according to an ESPN report.

Desmond Oliver coached ETSU for the past two seasons, going a combined 27-37 (15-21 in the Southern Conference) and losing in the conference tournament’s first round each season.

Joe Hugley, who played at ETSU and was on staff at Wake Forest from 2020-22, was an assistant coach for the Buccaneers this past season and was serving as the interim head coach after Oliver’s firing.

For Wake Forest, it creates a decision that seems to break one of two ways: Forbes can move Shay back into an assistant role, which he was for the 2021-22 season before moving into being special assistant to the head coach for this past season; or Forbes can look outside of his current staff for Savage's replacement.

Savage was responsible for oversight with Wake's offense, as the staff's breakdown was more of a coordinator-based structure.