A potential Brad Stevens return to the college ranks … will not be happening any time soon.
The Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Stevens is out of the running for the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported on Wednesday. Norlander notes that Stevens has quickly removed himself from consideration for the position.
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Norlander reported that Stevens might be a candidate for the Tar Heels, who just parted ways with head coach Hubert Davis after five seasons. But now Stevens is quickly putting that speculation to rest before it gets out of hand.
Stevens, 49, used to be a star head coach in the college ranks for Butler University. He led Butler to back-to-back national championship games in 2010 and 2011 and eventually parlayed that into a job as the head coach of the Celtics, who hired him in 2013.
But Stevens stepped down as Boston’s head coach in 2021 to move into their front office as their lead executive (eventually winning an NBA championship and an Executive of the Year Award in 2024). Stevens has been fully committed to the Celtics all throughout and once even turned down a prominent college coaching job that he might have actually preferred to the UNC gig.
With Stevens now off the board, the Tar Heels will surely cast a wide net in their search for a new men’s basketball head coach. Fortunately for them though, they may have a real chance with another big name from the NBA world.
