on april 2, 2007, lickliter resigned in order to take the head-coaching position at the university of iowa. the butler players had a meeting with athletic director barry collier, urging him to promote from within. collier, having spent the entire season observing the assistant coaches' interaction with the team, agreed. the day after lickliter resigned stevens and butler's two other assistant coaches interviewed for the job. within 24 hours of the interviews stevens was named butler's new head coach. according to collier, stevens had something older, outside candidates could never match: six years of experience learning the butler system, dubbed "the butler way" by collier. "age wasn't a factor because i'd seen his ability shine through during the course of the season," collier said.