Brad Stevens Reportedly Wasn't Interested In $70 Million Offer From Indiana
BOSTON (CBS) -- Last month, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was the subject of some intense rumors and speculation regarding the head coach vacancy at Indiana University. We've now learned some details of why Stevens was discussed so intensely, and it's a bit shocking.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, prior to hiring Mike Woodson, Indiana was "prepared" to offer a massive contract to Stevens, to the tune of $70 million over seven years.
According to Wojnarowski, Stevens "did not entertain it."
That's obviously a whole lot of money and a whole lot of job security reportedly being offered by the Hoosiers to rope Stevens back to his home state, but it apparently wasn't appealing enough to get Stevens to jump ship from the Celtics.
"I love coming to work every day. I love this area," Stevens said last month, amid all of the speculation. "I'm a 44-year-old Masshole. I swerve around others when I'm driving. I eat Dunkin' Donuts and I root for the Patriots. I've unfortunately been skewed in a lot of ways, I guess."
On Monday, when Stevens spoke to the media, he said he was never offered any contract.
Brad Stevens on the reported offer from Indiana: "I was never offered a package, so that's all news to me ... I wasn't gonna leave anyways."
— John Karalis ???????? ???????? (@John_Karalis) April 19, 2021
The appeal of Stevens to Indiana was obvious. He coached Butler to back-to-back appearances in the national championship game, and he grew up watching the Hoosiers.
Alas, Stevens is content where he is, and he's apparently financially secure enough to turn down a monster offer from Indiana.