Hoosiers Hire Mike Woodson, Not Celtics’ Brad Stevens, As Head Coach

Brad Stevens, as he expressed repeatedly, is not going anywhere.

The Boston Celtics head coach recently was swallowed up by rumors suggesting he was a top candidate to take over as head coach for Indiana’s men’s basketball team.

True or not, the Hoosiers ultimately went with someone else.

Indiana has hired New York Knicks assistant coach Mike Woodson to lead the team, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Woodson is a Hoosiers alum and played under head coach Bob Knight in the late 1970s.

Stevens made it clear he had no interest in leaving the Celtics for the college position. Still, though, rumors about his reported interest in the job continued to build no matter how many times he shot them down.

Some of these rumors, of course, were fueled by the Celtics’ recent rough patch. Boston has struggled to improve beyond a game or two over .500 of late and has failed to meet the high expectations set for them entering the 2020-21 season. Neither Danny Ainge nor Wyc Grousbeck have placed blame for the Celtics’ woes on Stevens, though.

Hopefully, this news will put the speculation to rest for a while.