You knew the question was going to be asked.
After the University of Indiana fired Archie Miller as its men's basketball head coach Monday, optimistic fans and reporters wondered aloud if Brad Stevens would consider the Hoosiers job.
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After all, the Celtics head coach is an Indiana native through and through -- he grew up in Zionsville, went to college at DePauw and coached at Butler before coming to Boston -- and coaching the Hoosiers would be any basketball fan's childhood dream in the hoops-crazed state.
So, when Stevens joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertrand on Tuesday for his weekly interview, co-host Marc Bertrand asked him out of the gate about Indiana fans clamoring for him to return home.
"That's nice of them. That really is," Stevens said. "Listen, that's home. I get it. I appreciate all the nice sentiments. It certainly doesn't go unnoticed. It's certainly very kind."
Does that mean Stevens is ditching the Celtics to take the Indiana job?
"I am not," Stevens replied.
For all the allure of coaching the Hoosiers, Stevens has a pretty good gig at the moment: He's the fifth-longest-tenured coach in the NBA and is the fourth-winningest coach in Celtics history behind basketball icons Red Auerbach, Tommy Heinsohn and Doc Rivers.
He's also taken the C's to three Eastern Conference finals in the last four years and has two young stars on his roster in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. And despite some rough patches this season, Stevens appears to have the full support of team Governor Wyc Grousbeck and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge.
Translation: It sounds like Stevens in Indiana is a pipe dream.