Celtics’ Brad Stevens says he’s not candidate to be Indiana men’s basketball head coach

Many Indiana men’s basketball fans view Brad Stevens as the dream candidate to replace Mike Woodson as head coach. But the Boston Celtics president of basketball operations says he’s not a candidate for the job.

“I thoroughly appreciate being a Celtic and love the people I get to work with every day,” Stevens told The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman on Friday.

Woodson announced last week he would step down as Indiana head coach at the end of the season. The Hoosiers are 6-8 in Big Ten play and 15-10 overall going into Friday night’s matchup with UCLA (18-7, 9-5). The team has spiraled downward since a 7-2 non-conference start and beginning its conference slate with a 6-1 mark.

There has been no reporting on whether Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson reached out to Stevens regarding the head coach opening in Bloomington.

Stevens has long been a favored choice among Hoosiers fans as an Indiana native and after an enormously successful six-year tenure as head coach at Butler, where he guided the Bulldogs to five NCAA tournament bids, two Final Fours and two national championship games.

He finished his college coaching career with a 166-49 overall record, four Horizon League regular-season titles and three conference tournament championships.

Stevens left to become the Celtics head coach in 2013 and coached Boston to six postseason berths in his seven seasons, including one Atlantic Division title and three Eastern Conference finals. With a record of 354-282, he moved up to president of basketball operations and general manager when Danny Ainge left for an executive job with the Utah Jazz.

During Stevens’ executive tenure, the Celtics advanced to the 2022 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games. The following season, Stevens suspended head coach Ime Udoka for violating team policies and replaced him with Joe Mazzulla, who went on to coach the Celtics to an NBA championship last season, and Stevens was named NBA Executive of the Year.

With Stevens taking himself out of the running, Indiana has to look elsewhere to fill its head coach opening. Among the rumored potential candidates the Hoosiers could pursue are UCLA coach Mick Cronin and Michigan coach Dusty May, an Indiana alum and former student manager under legendary coach Bob Knight.