Could this finally be the time Indiana lures the prodigal son home?
This article is part of a series profiling potential candidates for the Indiana men’s basketball coaching job. The others will be linked below.
Brad Stevens.
He’s been the apple of Indiana’s eye, fans and seemingly the administration, for years now. Whenever the job comes open his name is the first that’s mentioned and is probably the first one to get a call.
Which is a bit out there for a few reasons. For one, he’s currently the president of basketball operations for probably the most storied franchises in the NBA. Previously he was the organization’s head coach.
Why leave such a prestigious position to return to college? Is it just a “this guy is from here” thing?
Well,
For one, yes. His story is the Hoosier story, a kid who grew up in Zionsville watching basketball pretty much from the moment his eyes opened for the first time and frequently having his dad drive him South to watch his favorite team: the Indiana Hoosiers.
Stevens’ father, Mark, wasn’t just some Indiana fan either. The elder Stevens was a freshman center on Indiana’s 1968 Rose Bowl team.
As detailed above, Indiana was Stevens’ favorite team in his youth through a connection to his father. The pull of home can be a strong one and has lured many a coach back to their roots through the years and across countless sports.
Now, again, this is still a longshot. The longshot of all longshots. Stevens is the candidate you throw the kitchen sink at, give him the kind of offer that would at the very least get him thinking. If you’re making the decision you owe it to yourself to do so, especially with this much headway before the carousel really gets moving.
Now, why Brad Stevens?
I mean, do you really need to answer that question?
The man is a basketball savant who brought Butler to back-to-back appearances in the national title game. From the Horizon League. He’s spent every year since either coaching modern basketball in the NBA or putting together a roster that ultimately won a title as one of the most metrically sound teams in the league’s history.
As a coach and executive, he’s always kept up with the direction the game is going or innovated himself. His approach at Butler was analytically-driven when most coaches preferred an old-fashioned style of team and program management. His Celtics leveraged the 3-point revolution and took it to its extreme en route to an NBA title.
His teams weren’t the most talented, especially in those NCAA Tournament runs. They had Gordon Hayward, yes, but they were going against, and competing with, teams stacked with talent on a regular basis.
There’s a common refrain not entirely grounded in reality that Indiana’s fanbase just wants another Bob Knight. Stevens is about as far as it gets from that with his temperament. He’s known for a calm demeanor on the sideline and isn’t the type to go after refs or publicly chew out one of his players for a mistake.
It’s an intentional approach to cultivate a calmness in the team around him that other high-level coaches have made use of.
He’s one of the best basketball minds on the planet. If you’re in a position, like Indiana is, to make him an offer, you have to.