Brad Stevens
This initial piece is about the first calls and who would interest the brass and fanbase in Indiana the most, and you can bet that Stevens is already on their minds. His is a name that’s come up each of the last two times the job was open, but luring an active NBA head coach or executive strangely enough isn’t as easy as it sounds.
After playing college ball at DePauw, Stevens stayed in his home state of Indiana by taking a coaching job at Butler before ascending to the top job in 2007. During a historic run with the Bulldogs, Stevens took the program to consecutive trips to the national championship game in 2011 and 2012. A year later, he took over the Boston Celtics, won a ton of games and is now the team’s president of basketball operations. He helmed the organization to the NBA title this past summer.
Nobody forced Stevens into the NBA or into that front office post. If he wanted to be coaching, he could find a coaching gig anywhere in college or the NBA. What folks in Bloomington are hoping is that they can lure him back towards Indianapolis where he did all that great work with Butler. It’s been twelve years since Stevens coaching collegiate ball and a lot has changed in this universe, but if he’s ever going to leave the NBA this might be the job that gets it done.