Stevens' exit a blow to college game
At 5:40 p.m., my editor left me a voice message that ended with this line: "Brad Stevens, next coach of the Celtics."
Nineteen minutes later, I'm still trying to wrap my arms around that sentence. The last time I was this gobsmacked shocked was ... well, I honestly don't know.
You could have told me I was the new Celtics coach and I'd be less stunned.
....
In fact, I'm sure part of the shock is not that he left for the Celtics, but that he left Butler at all. Part of the nice and tidy Brad Stevens story always was that he was this loyal guy who always turned down other jobs.
....
In recent years, I've written about whether the future of the game can be trusted to the next generation of coaches. With so much attention on ladder-climbing and recruit-grabbing, plenty worried the essence, not to mention the integrity, of college basketball was decaying. When I polled coaches, they said they weren't worried, and the name they all referred to was Brad Stevens.
I've also opined on who might be on the next Mount Rushmore after the current crew -- Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, et al. -- steps away. Stevens was on every short list.
Not anymore.
....
But I can't help but come back to my simple, gut reaction: This is a lousy day for college basketball.
This game is and always will be overwhelmed by the coaches. In the moment, the players rule the day -- as they should -- but for the long run, it's the sideline stalkers who write the narrative. While the players come and go in a matter of years and even months, the coaches are the constants. Their personalities, vices and virtues steal the show.
So losing someone such as Stevens is a body blow. Certainly not one the game can't recover from (some coaching cliches are actually true, as in, no one is bigger than the game), but it is a mighty blow to Butler and the sport.
It's been a couple of hours and I'm still trying to process the news, but that much is clear.
