Yahoo Sports Brad Stevens denies receiving massive $70 million offer from Indiana
Despite reports that he received a massive offer to leave the NBA and take over at Indiana, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens insisted Monday that he never received any package from the Hoosiers.
Even if he did, Stevens said, he wouldn’t have taken it.
“I was never offered a package, so that’s all news to me,” he said, via John Karalis of the Boston Sports Journal. “I wasn’t going to leave anyway.”
Report: Indiana offered Stevens $70 million
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Sunday night that Indiana was prepared to make Stevens a massive 7-year, $70 million offer to take over as its next head coach.
That would have made him the highest-paid coach in college basketball by annual salary, more than both Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky coach John Calipari.
There are plenty of connections that would have made Stevens an ideal candidate for the Hoosiers’ job after the school opted to move on from Archie Miller, who was fired last month after just four seasons.
Not only is he a Zionsville, Indiana, native, but Stevens led Butler to four Horizon League regular-season titles and back-to-back Final Four runs — which he used to make the jump to the NBA and Boston in 2013. Undoubtedly, he would have been welcomed home to Indiana with open arms.
Despite that, however, Stevens has repeatedly said he’s not interested in the job.
“I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a 44-year-old Masshole,” he said last month after saying he wasn’t interested in leaving for Indiana. “I swerve around others when I’m driving. I eat Dunkin Donuts and I root for the Patriots.
“I’m, unfortunately, skewed in a lot of ways I guess.”
Indiana eventually hired Mike Woodson to fill the open position in Bloomington.
Though he doesn’t know what his coaching future holds — Stevens is in the middle of his eighth season with the Celtics — Stevens said again on Monday how content he is being in Boston.
“I don't know how long I'm going to coach,” he said, via John Karalis of the Boston Sports Journal. “I don't know how long I'm going to coach in the NBA. I don't know how long they'll want me to coach in the NBA. ... Right now, I am thrilled to be the Celtics head coach and it is a great challenge and a great responsibility."
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