Coach Brad Stevens sits on top of the list for best basketball coaching starts in NCAA history.
In the 2010-11 season, the Bulldogs, led by Stevens, won the Horizon League tournament to secure an automatic NCAA tournament bid. On March 26, 2011 Butler beat Florida 74-71 in overtime to earn back-to-back trips to the Final Four and then went on to beat VCU 70-62 to make it to their second consecutive championship game. The Bulldogs lost in the final to the University of Connecticut, 53-41, on April 4th, 2011. Coach Stevens is now the youngest coach to ever lead a NCAA team to consecutive national championship appearances.
In the 2009-10 season, Stevens and the Bulldogs posted a 33-5 overall record, the Horizon League’s first 18-0 conference mark and fourth overall unbeaten record, a fourth consecutive league regular season championship, a second Horizon League Tournament crown in three years and a national runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs were nationally-ranked for the fourth straight year, and Butler compiled a school-record, 25-game winning streak, the longest winning streak in the nation. The Butler coach was named NABC All-District 12 Coach, and he was a finalist for several additional national coaching awards. Butler ended the season as the No. 2-ranked team in the final ESPN/USA Today national poll.
In his debut season in 2007-08, Stevens helped Butler become the first team in school and Horizon League history to record 30 wins. The 30-4 Bulldogs captured the Great Alaska Shootout, won a second consecutive Wooden Tradition trophy, and wrapped up Horizon League regular season and tournament championships. Butler won a first-round NCAA Tournament game, before falling in overtime to #5 Tennessee in the second round. Butler set school- and league-records for regular season wins (27) and became just the second team in league history to record 16 league victories.
His second season produced perhaps an even more remarkable record. He guided a Butler team picked fifth in the Horizon League, with no seniors and just one returning starter, to 26 wins, a “Top 25” national ranking, a second consecutive Horizon League regular season championship and another trip to the NCAA Tournament. He recorded his 50th career win faster than any other coach in Butler men’s basketball history, and faster than all but four coaches in Division I history. Stevens was the mid-season recipient of the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, and he was cited as the Horizon League Coach of the Year.
Stevens was introduced as the new men’s basketball head coach at Butler University on April 4, 2007, just three days after his former boss, Todd Lickliter, was named head coach at the University of Iowa.
Stevens worked with Lickliter for six seasons, 2001-07. During his tenure as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs, Butler compiled a 131-61 record, won three Horizon League regular season championships and made four trips to postseason tournament play. In 2006-07, Butler compiled a 29-7 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs won the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York, and the team was ranked in the “Top 25” of both the Associated Press (A.P.) and ESPN/USA Today national polls for 16 consecutive weeks.
Stevens joined the Bulldogs’ staff in 2000-01 as coordinator of basketball operations, handling a variety of administrative duties. He was offered a full-time assistant coaching position by Lickliter in 2001-02.
The Butler coach left a position as a marketing associate at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis to pursue a career in basketball coaching. He served in a volunteer capacity in Butler’s basketball office during the summer of 2000, before eventually gaining a full-time administrative position under Matta.
Stevens earned a B.A. degree in economics from DePauw in 1999. He was a four-year member of the basketball team at DePauw, earning the squad’s “Coaches Award” in 1998-99. He and his wife, Tracy, have two children, son Brady and daughter Kinsley.
Brad Stevens, head basketball coach at Butler University, is available exclusively through IMG Speakers bureau for speaking engagements. Brad Stevens is also available for corporate hospitality appearances, meet and greets, and much more. Please contact IMG Speakers at 212-774-6735 or speakers@imgworld.com for more information on booking Brad Stevens.
