To absolutely no one’s surprise, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens won’t be leaving the Auerbach Center for Chapel Hill.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Stevens quickly removed his name from consideration for the North Carolina Men’s Basketball head coach opening.
“Less than 12 hours after news broke that North Carolina fired Hubert Davis on Tuesday night, an expected but notable bit of clarity to the university's coaching search has already been communicated: Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has removed his name from consideration for the Tar Heels job, sources told CBS Sports,” Norlander shared on Wednesday morning.
CBS had previously reported that Stevens “sat atop” UNC’s list of candidates to fill the opening. It’s simply tradition at this point. Whenever a significant coaching spot opens up in college, Stevens’ name is going to get mentioned.
First checkmark on the list complete for UNC
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 25, 2026
Make Brad Stevens say no ✅ https://t.co/pO7s2gjnfy
Google Brad, he wins
It makes sense, right?
Stevens is essentially basketball’s version of Curt Cignetti, who led the University of Indiana to its first National Championship two months ago. If you google him, you’ll figure out pretty quickly that he wins everywhere he goes.
We're 9 days away from Indiana Football and back with the Curt Cignetti countdown
— Hoosier Review (@Hoosier_Review) August 21, 2025
Given all the attention to IU's schedule and the 'fluke season' and 'back to reality' comments going around, it's time for the most famous Cignetti quote:
"It's pretty simple, I win...Google me" pic.twitter.com/GL2puvfm6o
Prior to joining the Celtics in 2013, Stevens tallied a 166-49 record at Butler across six seasons. He led the Bulldogs to five NCAA Tournament appearances, three Horizon League Conference Tournament titles, and two Final Four appearances.
Of course, he carried on his winning ways in Boston. The Cs missed the playoffs just once after bringing the Indiana native on as head coach, despite being thought to be entering a rebuilding era upon hiring him. They overachieved almost every season under Stevens until his eventual transition into his current front office role when he took over for Danny Ainge in June of 2021.
The Celtics have missed the Eastern Conference Finals just once since, reaching two NBA Finals and winning the 2024 NBA Championship in the process.
Stevens doesn’t seem remotely eager to move back to the bench. The 2024 NBA Executive of the Year publicly turned down an opening at Indiana University last year after the school parted ways with Mike Woodson.
"I thoroughly appreciate being a Celtic and love the people I get to work with every day," Stevens told the Field of 68 in February of 2025.
That mindset remains the same as it was the day Stevens changed jobs almost five years ago now.
“My No. 1 thing is for the good of the Celtics,” he explained when he took the new role in 2021. “I love the Celtics. I want to do what's best for the Celtics. And I really have enjoyed coaching. I loved coaching and I loved coaching the players, both at Butler and here. But this is a new challenge. This is what we need to do to hopefully be even better."