In the summer of 2000 , Stevens was offered the opportunity to volunteer in the Butler basketball office . He ran the idea of quitting his job at Eli Lilly by then @-@ longtime girlfriend Tracy Wilhelmy . She thought about it for two hours before telling him to go for it . " Now , it looks like a great idea , " Stevens later remarked . " At the time , I thought it was something I really wanted to try . " Tracy went back to school to get a law degree that could support the couple if things did not work out for Brad . " We were 23 and realized this was our chance , " Tracy later said . " Five years down the road , we were probably not going to be in a position to do that . The more success you had at Lilly , the harder it would be to leave . "