{"id":704696,"date":"2026-04-08T06:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/704696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:04:20","slug":"brad-stevens-addresses-tiresome-rumors-of-college-hoops-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/704696\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Stevens addresses ‘tiresome’ rumors of college hoops return"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tStevens said he’s flattered by interest from college programs, but is not planning to leave the Celtics.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tBrad Stevens Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Giannis\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGiannis Antetokounmpo paid high praise to Celtics\u2019 coach Joe Mazzulla\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Boston College is about to have a renaissance in basketball\u2019: Dan Hurley\u2019s take on Luke Murray\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the University of North Carolina hired Mike Malone<\/a>, there were reports that Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was among a shortlist of possible candidates for the opening.<\/p>\n

Stevens quickly removed his name from consideration<\/a>. It\u2019s been 13 years since Stevens coached college basketball at Butler, but the impression he left along with his continued success at the pro level means his name has been mentioned when several big opportunities have come up over the years.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Stevens <\/a>told reporters that he has no plans to leave the Celtics. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on the phone with a lot of those people through the year and those involved with the decision-making processes,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cIt\u2019s always flattering when you\u2019re hearing that, but the whole idea of the coaching carousel being news is a bit tiresome, but I get why in this day and age people want to talk about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know from being around me, I\u2019m not quick to make decisions where I\u2019m all over the place. I like being here. They\u2019ve been great to me, and I haven\u2019t been seeking anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens has been with the Celtics since he left Butler in 2013, first as head coach before transitioning to his executive role following Danny Ainge\u2019s departure. <\/p>\n

Stevens is widely regarded as one of the NBA\u2019s top executives and won the NBA Executive of the Year award in 2024. The Celtics, who are currently second in the Eastern Conference, are weeks aways from embarking on another playoff run.<\/p>\n

UNC wasn\u2019t the only organization that aspired to pry Stevens away from the Celtics. <\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s Dallas Mavericks, whom the Celtics beat in the 2024 Finals, reportedly had Stevens on their \u201cwish list\u201d for their general manager opening after they fired Nico Harrison. <\/p>\n

Stevens said he hasn\u2019t been motivated to do anything other than what he\u2019s been doing: putting a competitive product on the floor for the Celtics.<\/p>\n

Still, with the amount of money flowing through the highest levels of college basketball, it\u2019s not unheard of to see professionals heading back to the college ranks.<\/p>\n

Before UNC brought on Malone \u2014 who won a title with the Denver Nuggets \u2014 to coach the men\u2019s basketball team, the school hired six-time Super Bowl championship coach Bill Belichick to lead its football program.<\/p>\n

Unlike Stevens, Malone and Belichick had both been let by the franchises where they won titles.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are still in the midst of competing for championships. They managed to stay in the hunt after revamping the roster this summer. <\/p>\n

The job is not finished this season, and neither is Brad Stevens\u2019s time in Boston. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics Stevens said he’s flattered by interest from college programs, but is not planning to leave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-704696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116367581491339301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}