Brad Stevens’ old Butler boss talks Celtics and working with Walter McCarty
"He wasn’t worried about getting the next job or being noticed, he was just doing his job really well."
Todd Lickliter had a front-row seat to watch the development of Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. Now, he’ll have another one watching the debut of Walter McCarty leading a college program.
Lickliter, who’s helmed three college programs in the last 18 years, has crossed paths with multiple Boston favorites. Coaching Butler from 2001-2007, he helped Stevens grow as a young assistant. And in 2018, he’s an assistant on McCarty’s first-year staff at Evansville.
“From my perspective, there’s no way I’d be where I am without him,” Stevens said of Lickliter after he was hired by the Celtics in 2013.
Lickliter recently spoke with Boston.com about his time with Butler and his work with Stevens, as well as his new role at Evansville with McCarty.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
You’re now with Walter McCarty at Evansville. How did that come together?
Todd Lickliter: I think Coach McCarty and I actually met when he was with the Pacers and I was back in Indianapolis. He’s just such an engaging individual, I enjoyed getting to know him. He’s very sincere, and just a guy who you end up gravitating towards. Every time I went to Boston, I got to sit in on meetings and Walter would be there. We interacted and while we weren’t terribly close, we were friends. We’ve obviously got the connection with Brad, and I think Walter has a healthy respect for what we did at Butler and the the way Brad’s doing things. And I have tremendous respect for him.
Also, I see that Mattew Graves is on the staff, too. So it seems like he’s putting together a bit of the old Butler brain trust?
TL: Well I think I might be the weak link! The other guys on staff are really good, too. I like the staff he’s put together. I’m enjoying it so much. I think we’ll have good camaraderie. It starts with Walter. You can’t be around him without him getting to know you. That’s just the kind of person he is.
What were your early impressions of Brad Stevens when he first joined Butler’s staff?
TL: He was a graduate assistant, and then he was elevated pretty quickly. My thought was he’s incredibly personable, pays attention to detail, he’s just a terrific teammate and staff member. But I wasn’t thinking in terms of what he’s going to be, I was just thinking about what he was at the time. We got along well, he cared so much about the team. He didn’t have an ego or need to be heard or seen. He was just going to do his job really, really well. I appreciated his approach.
How did Brad grow over the years you were head coach at Butler, just as your program was also growing?
TL: I think it’s been well documented that he’s highly intelligent. And he’s thorough. He loved the team aspect. We were trying to grow the program, so were constantly analyzing what we were doing and how we were going to do it. Because I was an assistant the first year and he was an administrative assistant, we actually were roommates on the road. He was involved with my parts of the coaching. He wanted to be coach, but because of his role, he wasn’t on the floor. But he would always sit in when I was doing scouting, or when I was doing individual workouts. He got his work done, but also had time to observe and evaluate and grow in the coaching role. He knew he wanted that. He utilized his time then as he does now, very wisely. So the growth was pretty natural. It was going to happen because he was invested in it.
Todd Lickliter leads Butler in 2007 with assistant Brad Stevens seated behind him.
You, with Brad as an assistant, went through a rebuilding period at Butler. Do you think that helped him when he experienced that with the Celtics?
TL: We just kept to our value system. It wasn’t broken even when we were rebuilding, we just had to re-establish. Everybody talks about a ‘culture’ today, I think we were big into that before it was talked about. We knew we wanted to have the right environment. We didn’t have everything in terms of resources, but we had enough. What we did have we were proud of. The key was we had the right people.
Our coaches were just setting a tremendous example. Like I said, Brad was a great teammate. He wasn’t worried about getting the next job or being noticed, he was doing his job really well. And he wasn’t the only one. I think I had the best staff in the country. I don’t know if it was luck or not, but I was just looking for like-minded people. Guys who really embraced the team aspects.
You see that in Boston now. I’m so impressed with everyone in that organization. I didn’t meet a person who I thought there was something wrong with. Every person is just quality. And I think Brad would tell you that he’s been involved with two really good organizations from top to bottom.
When you left for Iowa, maybe it’s assumed now in retrospect, but was Brad the clear choice to succeed you?
TL: All of the assistants were capable and young, so that’s what you don’t know. The reason I’d gotten the job there was I thought there was a great foundation and our players were the right guys. Our athletic director was in tune enough to say maybe this isn’t a big splash hiring an assistant coach, but it’s the right thing for the program. This program is growing and thriving, and it’ll continue because we have the right pieces already. That’s how I was hired. So when they chose my replacement, Brad had been my top assistant, so it just made sense. And we were growing. We’d gone through a rebuild, reestablished, and had a great recruiting class coming in, and Brad was a huge part of that.
I don’t think any of us knew the full level of his ability. I mean we were all impressed with him. We all believed in him, but he’s proven to be one of, if not the best in the business, so you could never have projected that. But we knew he would be successful. He’s a great representative of Butler.
When he was hired by the Celtics, what was your reaction? Sometimes college coaches haven’t had success in the NBA.
TL: I thought if anybody can do it, he can do it. I was impressed that they saw something in him. I mean he’d had success, but they saw beyond just his record at Butler to something more in terms of all he brings to the position. And part of it is his work ethic, because you have to work really hard to master the things that are different in the two levels. It’s basketball, and so there are probably things that he’s used that we used at Butler, but there’s also adjustment. It takes an incredible amount of study and work.
You mentioned you were roommates for a time when you were both assistants. Is there another side to Brad Stevens that we all don’t see?
TL: I don’t think there’s anything that I know about him that you don’t know. What you see is what you get. And I think that’s huge in today’s world, actually. I like that. He’s very trustworthy. He’s fun, I mean he’s got a great sense of humor and relates to people well. But I think the biggest thing with him is there aren’t any games or pretenses. Who you see is who he is. He’s professional and sincere, and I think that’s a reason why he’s so well liked and respected.
