BOSTON (AP) Danny Ainge, who helped bring two NBA titles to Boston as a player and another as the team's basketball boss, stepped down from the Celtics front office just hours after they were eliminated from the postseason, and coach Brad Stevens is giving up his job on the bench to replace him.

Stevens will lead the search for his successor, the Celtics said in a news conference Wednesday. He leaves as the fourth-winningest coach in franchise history, but one who failed to hang a championship banner from the rafters.

"Hiring a new coach will give us a great opportunity to hire somebody that will be ... a new, fresh voice with a new, fresh perspective," Stevens said. "They don't have to fill Doc Rivers' shoes, like I did. And they don't have to fill Danny Ainge's shoes, like I do. They just have to figure out a way to be better than the last guy."