In the summer of 1999 a former basketball guard and captain of Depauw University basketball, a small college in Greencastle, had settled into his new post-graduate life. A three-time NCAA Division III All-America selection, Brad Stevens had realized his playing days were done. The former Deans List honoree and economics major took a job at Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis where Stevens had interned at as a young student-athlete at Depauw before his senior year.
He parlayed his success as an intern into a $44,000 a year job offer by the time he walked off the stage at graduation. It was a great entry level job with a bright future. Lots of opportunities to advance, and the more success one had at Eli Lilly and Company, the more responsibility was given. Success in the company directly correlated to income as well. Not bad for a twenty-two year old, small college basketball player. With a very serious girlfriend (and soon to be wife) the opportunity could provide all the stability for a young family to blossom.
But despite the stability, and promising future. Something was missing for Brad Stevens. Something just didn’t feel right. Despite the potential for the next twenty years to be spent in a safe, well paying job, Stevens was desiring more.
He still wanted something in the basketball realm. Having worked camps in the summers in college for Butler University, a small NCAA Division I school in Indianapolis, Stevens had maintained an equal love for coaching and instructing the game as he did for playing the game. Shortly after graduation, Stevens remained in the basketball realm, coaching a summer AAU team as well as working another round of camps at Butler University on the side. It started with a nagging sense of discontentment with the path he was on at Eli Lilly and Company. In reality it had nothing to do with the company, and had everything to do with the direction he was heading. Brad Stevens was unsettled with his future.
In the state, known as the “Crossroads of America”, Stevens had his first crossroads decision of his young professional career. After working a camp for Butler University, he had an intriguing job offer while settling into his first real job as a young professional. Recently hired head coach, Thad Matta offered Brad Stevens a role on his coaching staff at Butler University. A dream come true for Stevens who wanted to leave his office gig for a job on the hardcourt. For an NCAA Division III player to be offered a job on an NCAA Division I coaching staff was incredible. It was almost too good to be true. There was one catch though. The job was a volunteer position. A “foot in the door” for young coaches often comes in the form of free labor. And hard labor at that.
Stevens didn’t waste time. He left his $44,000 a year job with a promising future at Eli Lilly and Company and became the Director of Basketball Operations. The Volunteer Director of Basketball Operations. He moved into a friend’s basement and got a job at Applebee’s to supplement his income. Income which took a huge hit from leaving a full-time job for a volunteer job.
The Dean’s List recipient, with a degree in economics, went from earning a safe wage to no wage. Yet even for an economics grad, the investment was obvious to have a long-term payoff - possibly in income, but certainly in fulfillment. It didn’t take long to climb the ranks and become a full-time assistant under Coach Matta at Butler. Quickly proving himself to be a worthy asset in coaching, Stevens was meticulous in his attention to detail and possessed servant’s heart as a leader. Brad Stevens was promoted multiple times, and eventually became the head coach for Butler University - seven years after working for free.
After taking the reigns of Butler basketball in 2007, Stevens was the second-youngest head coach in NCAA Division I basketball. Not bad for a former NCAA Division III guard. In his second season leading Butler he took the team to an NCAA tournament berth and a conference championship. A few years later he would lead Butler to two NCAA Final Fours and would explode on the scene as one of the brightest coaches in the basketball industry.
His methodology at Butler, led by his servant heart and attention to detail caught the attention of one of the NBA’s most prestigious franchises - the Boston Celtics. In 2013, the Celtics hired him away from his home state of Indiana - “The Crossroads of America.” And the only team he has ever coached, Butler University. Similar to the summer after high school, his decision making was not about monetary gain. He was already making life changing money. In his final year at Butler University the former volunteer earned $750,000. This time it was about a new frontier and a new challenge. Another crossroads decision for the mild-mannered Brad Stevens.
On July 3, 2013, Stevens was hired as the head coach of the Boston Celtics. Inheriting a rebuild with the Celtics, Stevens has slowly improved the Celtics into a top contender, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals twice and advancing to the NBA playoffs in all but his first year as a head coach in the NBA. His current contract with the Boston celtics was for $22 million dollars over six years. $21,956,000 more than the $44,000 he “gave up” to pursue his coaching passion.
An Illusion of Safety
For most, leaving the safety of a well-paying job right out of college with an incredible track towards a lucrative living would be asinine. For Brad Stevens it was a no-brainer. Not because he knew this move would pay off financially in the coaching profession, but because he knew he would be in a profession that would challenge him and reward him. Sometimes the “safest” play is to pursue what you are passionate about. It’s not about “betting on yourself” it’s about betting on your passions. Basketball provided the perfect blend for Brad Stevens - the ability to combine his love for the game, the X’s and O’s, the training, and development with his natural leadership capabilities. Ultimately, the coaching profession guaranteed him a group to serve, year in and year out. Serving as the volunteer assistant of a small Division I program, all the way to serving as the head coach of the Boston Celtics over a decade later.
Crossroads Decisions
A crossroads decision is one in which there are multiple options to choose from. Go down Path A, Path B, or Path C. Life provides us with crossroads decisions on occasion. Decisions that alter our future because they send us down a path. Similar to a game of poker, a crossroads decision can be so difficult because we don’t really know what is in store. We take the information we think we know to make the best decision we can. But, there’s really no way to know for certain what the other person has in their hand. We just have to collect as much information as we can, and make the best decision possible. Brad Stevens had no way of knowing the path he chose would lead all the way to TD Garden Arena. At the time of his first crossroads decision he knew very little about what was in store in the future. He did however know, the path he was on - as safe as it was, was actually more frightening to him than the path that started with volunteer labor.
Passion & Servanthood
For Brad Stevens, it’s highly unlikely he was contemplating all of these rich possibilities in the future. There’s very little likelihood he drew up the path in his mind while daydreaming at Eli Lilly and Company to start as a volunteer at a small division I school and have it curve all the way to the Boston Celtics. In reality, leaving the full time job with Eli Lilly and Company for the volunteer position at Butler meant he was signing up for team laundry, hotel invoices, travel plans, Jimmy John’s catering after games, coordinating camps, cutting film, and all in a volunteer capacity. He had to know it could have been a stepping stone though. An opportunity always looks better through the lens of passion and servanthood. For Brad Stevens, to do something in the realm of his passion while providing him an opportunity to be a servant leader wasn’t really all that risky.
Passion and Servanthood, compounded over multiple decades can take a volunteer assistant all the way to the head coach of an NBA franchise. Crossroads decisions become a lot less risky when the path includes passion and servanthood.
Stay The Course,
JB
Book of the week: The Keeper by Tim Howard
Podcast episode of the week: Don’t Do It Alone. How To Build A Winning Team - Jocko Podcast
Article of the week: The Great Communicator, Terry Francona
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