Friendship Between Frank Vogel and Brad Stevens Started at Suburban Indy Park

ORLANDO – The first time that Frank Vogel and Brad Stevens talked in-depth about basketball and scribbled out a few Xs and Os, it was in, of all places, the dirt at a children’s park in suburban Indianapolis.

At that time in 2011, Vogel was just becoming the head coach of the Indiana Pacers and Stevens was about to make history as the youngest coach in college basketball to reach two Final Fours as the highly successful mentor of nearby Butler University.

They had met just briefly once before the playground encounter, but both carried a mutual respect for the other from afar. Vogel was at the park that day with daughters Alexa and Arianna, while Stevens had son Brady with him. But in between…