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Brad Stevens confirms he is not a candidate for Indiana head coach position

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•about 19 hours•

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Brad Stevens
© David Butler II | USA TODAY Sports

Despite the rumors, Brad Stevens is not a candidate for the Indiana head coach position to replace Mike Woodson. He told The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman he is happy in his current role as Boston Celtics president of basketball operations.

Stevens’ name is a familiar one in coaching rumor mills, coming up in most cycles as of late. However, he continues to reaffirm his happiness with the Celtics, where he put together one of the top teams in the NBA and the reigning champions.

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“I thoroughly appreciate being a Celtic and love the people I get to work with every day,” Stevens told Goodman.

Stevens, of course, is well-known for his success in the state of Indiana at Butler. He took the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships while amassing a 166-49 record from 2007-13. The Celtics then hired him as head coach, and he went 354-282 in eight years before moving upstairs as the franchise’s president of basketball operations.

Brad Stevens is the first person to publicly say they are not part of Indiana’s pending coaching search. Woodson is planning to step down at the end of the season amid his fourth season at the helm of his alma mater, and the fan-favorite target is officially off the board.

Woodson entered this season with a 58-35 record through his first three seasons at his alma mater, but Indiana missed out on the NCAA Tournament a year ago after going 19-14 overall and 10-10 in league play. That ramped up the pressure around the head coach, but an influx in NIL funds helped fuel a roster overhaul to try and turn things around.

Indiana added five players from the transfer portal last cycle, headlined by former Arizona big man Oumar Ballo – the No. 1 overall player to hit the transfer portal, according to the 2024 On3 Industry Transfer Rankings. Former Stanford guard Kanaan Carlyle also came in as the No. 13 overall player. As a whole, that group of transfers ranked No. 5 in the On3 Team Transfer Portal Index.

However, the results on the court haven’t been there this season. Despite a win over Michigan State to snap a five-game losing streak, Indiana has a 15-10 overall record and a 6-8 mark in Big Ten play. That adds to the mounting pressure as “Fire Woodson” chants broke out multiple times throughout the season as fans voiced their frustration.