Brad Stevens to take over for Danny Ainge, lead search for new head coach
The Boston Celtics are already making some significant changes entering a crucial offseason for the club.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens will transition to president of basketball operations, replacing Danny Ainge, who announced his retirement from the C's on Wednesday.
According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, Stevens will lead the search for the new Celtics head coach.
The change comes after the Celtics were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs Tuesday night with a 123-109 Game 5 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Ainge has been in Boston's front office since 2003 and was instrumental in helping build the 2008 championship team by pairing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen with Paul Pierce.
The Celtics will now enter a new era under Stevens, who has never held a front-office position.
The 44-year-old joined the Celtics in 2013, leading the franchise to a 354-282 regular-season record and seven consecutive playoff appearances. The team also reached the Eastern Conference Finals three times under Stevens.
Before joining the Celtics, Stevens was the head coach at Butler University, where he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championship games.
Stevens was rumored to have been a target for the University of Indiana head coaching job in March, but the new Celtics executive denied that he had any interest in the position.
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