Reports: Brad Stevens to Illinois?
After news that Shaka Smart turned down the Illinois job offer, the Illini faithful got a bit worried. And to add to their anxiety, there were subsequent reports that Alabama’s Anthony Grant and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton were not interested in the head coaching position at Illinois.
With news on Friday afternoon, though, the Illini must be giddy with the thought that they could be the program to finally poach Butler’s Brad Stevens. Stevens was a hot commodity after not one, but two NCAA runner-up performances in back-to-back years (2010 and 2011). Despite the money thrown at him by programs with major funds, like Oregon, Stevens stayed the course at Butler.
Now that could all change. On Friday afternoon, it was reported by Illinois Loyalty that Stevens has been offered a $20 million contract over 8 years. And to add fuel to the fire, Adam Hoge of CBS Sports Chicago tweeted on Friday at 3:21 pm that a private plane from Indianapolis was en route to Champaign, Illinois:
March 23, 2012 2:21 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
So if Stevens makes the jump from Butler, what will that mean for the rest of the Big Ten? In short, watch out. Stevens achieved two Final Fours in consecutive years at a mid-major school from the Horizon League. Stevens’ teams only had two legit NBA players (Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack). If Stevens can make that kind of a run at Butler with only two NBA players on a roster, imagine what he can do at a school with resources like Illinois.
Of course, there’s no guarantee Stevens will achieve the same success at Illinois. In a high pressure Big Ten basketball conference, he will not be able to cruise through the conference schedule like he did at Butler.
That said, if Butler lands at Illinois, you can be certain that the rest of the Big Ten will take notice of the baby faced 35 year old coach with more Final Four appearances than all Big Ten coaches other than Tom Izzo.
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