The Boston Celtics announced Brad Stevens, '99 for the team on July 3. While Stevens has been massively successful during his time as head coach at Butler University, the move to the Celtics was met with some public scrutiny. The Celtics' move to hire a wildly successful college coach with hopes his style transitions to the professional level, is not unheard of at the NBA level. However the lack of professional success among these college-coaching greats, including John Calipari and Rick Pitino, is the example skeptics point to when questioning Stevens' hire.
Speculation has circulated about Stevens moving to a higher profile job since Butler's "Cinderella story" success in the 2010 NCAA tournament.
Other colleges offered big money to Stevens, but those came and went without any legitimate rumor of a Stevens' departure from Butler coming to fruition. When the Celtics made an offer, Stevens' mood about leaving Butler seemed to shift. But who could blame him? He would be making more in three years with the Celtics than he was set to make over the entirety of his ten-year contract with Butler. Not to mention, there is a different level of prestige that comes from coaching arguably one of the most successful American sports franchise over the past fifty-years.
Although it was sad for fans to see Brad Stevens leave local favorite Butler for the unknown of the NBA and the East Coast markets, considering his meteoric rise to prominence in coaching, here's to hoping he succeeds.