Wake Forest hires Chicago Bulls staffer to serve as GM

Wake Forest has hired Steve Weinman to be its senior associate athletics director for analytics. He has been with the Chicago Bulls for the past 13 years.

Additionally, he’ll be the general manager for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs at Wake Forest. Those duties include direct strategic and operational support for coaches Steve Forbes and Megan Gebbia.

Weinman had previously been working with Wake Forest in a consulting role. His most recent role with the Bulls was as vice president of basketball strategy and analytics and assistant general manager.

“From the moment I began consulting with Wake Forest this spring, it has been a joy to work with two basketball coaching staffs,” Weinman said through a news release, “who have been so welcoming to me and open-minded in how they think about the game, both in terms of roster construction and game strategy.”

According to Wake’s release, Weinman will “collaborate closely with the head coaches of each program on roster construction including recruiting strategy, transfer portal evaluation, resource allocation and planning.” That also involves working directly with agents.

Weinman will also be an executive affiliate with the Wake Forest School of Business.

Per Wake Forest: “This collaboration — an unprecedented integration of academic and athletics leadership — will include hands-on learning opportunities for MSBA students through embedded projects within Athletics, enhanced alumni engagement and industry-facing programming.”

Here were notable quotes provided through Wake’s news release:

Forbes: “Steve comes highly recommended by Billy Donovan and Brian Hagen; two people I trust and have the utmost respect for. They both spoke glowingly about Steve and his basketball acumen. His 13-year NBA experience will be an invaluable addition to our program, specifically in the areas of analytics, retention and recruitment.”

Gebbia: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Steve Weinman to Wake Forest. In today’s collegiate sports landscape, adding someone of Steve’s expertise and experience in talent evaluation and roster management is crucial. Steve’s ability to combine data-driven insights with a deep understanding of the game will be a tremendous asset as we continue to build our program.”

Athletics director John Currie: “Steve brings to Wake Forest a powerful blend of NBA experience, strategic insight, and a collaborative spirit. His work will not only help drive competitive excellence for all our programs, with a large focus on basketball, but will also help establish a first-of-its-kind partnership between Athletics and our world-class School of Business.”