Indiana’s Connection to the Boston Celtics Championship

Source: Boston Globe / Getty

At the age of 47, Brad Stevens is now the Celtics President of Basketball Operations and he was named the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2024. He grew up in Zionsville, Indiana, attended Zionsville High School, and played college basketball at DePauw University in Greencastle. He would graduate from DePauw in 1999 with a degree in economics.

After deciding to leave Eli Lilly, he joined the Butler University Men’s Basketball program. From 2001-2007, he was an assistant coach until he was named the Butler Head Coach in 2007. He led the team to back-to-back National Championship Game appearances even though they lost both times to Duke and UCONN respectively.

In 2013, he was named the Head Coach of the Celtics. That was a job he held through 2021. The furthest he got the team was to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 2021, he replaced Danny Ainge as the team’s President of Operations. The Celtics fell to the Warriors in the NBA Finals in the 2021-22 season, lost in the Conference Finals again in the 2022-23 season, but got over the hump against the Dallas Mavericks this year.

“There are just a lot of things you go through along the way. Sometimes it breaks you and sometimes it doesn’t. You just don’t want to give away opportunities when you have them. This was a golden one and these guys took advantage of it,” said Stevens in a postgame interview Monday night with NBC Sports Boston.

Stevens always hesitates to takes credit for his actions in coaching and in the front office.

“When I say I didn’t do anything, I DIDN’T DO anything. I sat and ate popcorn in the suite for like 100 games,” said Stevens.

Stevens and his wife, Tracy, have two children named Kinsley and Brady. Brady plays basketball at Notre Dame.

Stevens’ father, Mark, is an orthopedic surgeon in Indianapolis who played college football for Indiana. His mother, Jan, is a university professor who has previously taught at Butler.

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