Indiana’s firing of Tom Crean on Thursday has kicked off one big rumor party, but Brad Stevens is calling in a noise complaint.
The Celtics head coach dismissed the idea of his interest in the Hoosiers job on Friday and reaffirmed his long-term commitment to Boston, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet.
"I'm gonna be here until the @Celtics decide to move in another direction." – @Celtics HC Brad Stevens on the Indy coaching rumors.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@SherrodbCSN) March 17, 2017
Of course, the 40-year-old Stevens has some major street cred at the college level, having put the men’s basketball program at nearby Butler University on the map by leading them to five NCAA Tournament appearances (including back-to-back Championship Game berths) in his six seasons as their head coach. He is also a native of Indianapolis and attended college at another local Indiana school, DePauw University.
But Stevens already has an attractive gig leading a Celtics team that looks poised to contend for at least the next several seasons. His current deal with Boston is also paying him close to $4 million a year. As such, it’s easy to see why Stevens might not be interested in the Indiana vacancy (though it could still be filled by another candidate from the NBA pool).
