Following a mundane win over the Houston Rockets that improved the Boston Celtics’ 2020-21 record to just 20-18, head coach Brad Stevens is being linked to a recently vacated job in his home state.
The Indiana Hoosiers HC role is now open, and though Stevens doesn’t have a direct link to the school himself, his father played there (on the gridiron), and, well, things aren’t exactly going swimmingly in Boston right now.
This has been a season of disappointment for the Cs, who don’t look like they stand a chance as currently constructed to knock off the likes of the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, or Milwaukee Bucks in a seven-game series. History is on the side of the Miami Heat as well, who currently own the four seed and would be the team’s matchup if the postseason started today.
Things could go downhill quickly in Beantown if improvements aren’t made. With all of the turmoil that surrounded the two seasons ago–and the brief bit of in-house fighting that occurred in the summer in the bubble–Stevens’ seat may be getting hotter by the day.
Perhaps no day opened up the floodgates to the possibilities of Stevens leaving quite like today has, though. The Indy Star’s Zach Osterman listed Brad Stevens as a potential coaching replacement for Archie Miller:
"Stevens, a Zionsville native son of a former IU football player who took Butler to back-to-back national title games, is many Indiana fans’ white whale. He’s been on the wish list for closing in on a decade, at once because of his background, his accomplishments and his cerebral, defense-to-offense style that would fit Indiana culturally. Would he want the job? There are murmurings of discontent in year eight of his tenure in Boston, but it’s widely believed Stevens enjoys coaching at the NBA level and, should his time with the Celtics end, he could probably get another job at that level relatively easily. It’s less clear what his appetite for returning to college might be."
Then FanSided’s Brad Berreman listed the Boston Celtics coach as a realistic candidate to fill the Hoosier opening too:
"His success at Butler, with back-to-back national title games in 2010 and 2011, keeps his profile and overall cache high in coaching circles. For whatever it’s worth, Stevens would be the No. 1 candidate to replace Miller for Indiana fans."
Granted, both pointed out the possibility of Stevens finding a different job in the NBA, but the energy of a potential new head coach in Boston is out there, and so is the former Butler coach returning to the Hoosier State as the Hoosier head coach.
After a season that saw Indiana get beat up by most of the contenders in the Big Ten as well as non-conference opponent Texas, the Hoosiers felt that a change was needed. If the Boston Celtics feel that way as well, then today was the day that the smoke first appeared for a potential Stevens-Indiana fire.