Many consider Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens as one of the best young coaches in the NBA. Some might even include the 43-year-old as one of the top shot-callers in the entire league regardless of age or stature.
Bradley Kent Stevens was born on October 22, 1976 to Mark Stevens, an orthopedic surgeon and former college football player, and Jan Stevens, who is a university professor. He grew up in Zionsville, Indiana, where he would show his prowess in the sport of basketball at an early age. Stevens went to Zionsville Community High School, where he would be the star player of the school's basketball team. He would then play college ball for DePauw University in Greenscale, Indiana, where he would also earn a degree in economics.
It was in college where he would meet his wife, Tracy, who herself played for the university's soccer team. The couple was wed on August of 2003, and have two children: Brady (13) and Kinsley (9). Tracy is a labor and employment lawyer, and currently also serves as Stevens' personal sports agent.
After a brief corporate stint for a pharmaceutical company, Stevens would first pursue his love for coaching as a volunteer for the Butler University basketball program in 2000. He worked his way up, until finally being named head coach in 2007. At this point, he was already able to provide the basketball world with a brief preview of his future success in his chosen field after guiding Butler to 30 wins in just his first season at the helm.
Simply put, Brad Stevens was a rock star in the NCAA, guiding Butler to unprecedented back-to-back Championship game appearances. Both would result in heartbreaking losses, though, but there was already no doubt that Stevens had emerged as one of the best coaches in college basketball at that point in time.
In 2013, the Celtics came calling, and Stevens would put pen to paper on a $22 million, six-year deal to fulfill the role of the team's head coach. He had a rough start to his NBA career, finishing with a 25-57 record in his debut season. That was pretty much the end of that, however, with Stevens guiding the C's to five consecutive playoffs appearances — including back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2016 and 2017 — following his forgettable rookie season.
Currently, Stevens holds an overall win-loss record of 336-263, which represents a .561 win-loss percentage. To date, he has been named as the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month on three separate occasions. He's also proven to do well with NBA Draft talent the franchise has brought in since he began his tenure with the organization.
Most recently, the second season with all teams dealing with a pandemic and all sorts of other issues, Brad Steves is catching heat from some media outside of the Boston bubble. It's some of the weirder Celtics news you'll find. Whether that means his time with the Celtics is up is yet to be seen; though it should be noted that the grass is often not actually greener on the other side.
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