During his tenure as the Celtics head coach, Brad Stevens has become an offseason regular at Gillette Stadium. He’s observed Patriots training camps, OTAs and team meetings, while also conferring with Bill Belichick and staff about coaching philosophy and practice. Stevens has even struck up a friendship with New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

But before he joined Bon Jovi as a summer staple in Foxborough, Stevens took his first visit to the Patriots’ facility one spring after he was hired in July 2013. He recounted the experience Thursday during an appearance on ESPN radio, calling it “amazing” and saying it followed a New England loss at Denver in the AFC Championship Game, indicating the year was either 2014 or 2016.

Below is a full transcript of Stevens’ answer on The Dan Le Batard Show.

"I’ll never forget it. I went to an offseason training activity, and It was the first one of the year. I’ll never forget the first team meeting, the film that he showed from the year before where they came up a little bit short and got beat by Denver. I believe it was an AFC Championship Game. And you could tell that everybody knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish, how they wanted to accomplish it and the value of — as they say — doing their jobs well.

“I told my wife when I came home, ‘I know two things: You can’t win until you keep from losing. And don’t fumble the football. That’s all I know about football.’ And having spent all day there and watching all their film and trying to figure out how the heck that all works, and watching coach McDaniels put some of the offensive stuff together, it was just amazing.

“But they have a special, special culture. All the players, all the coaches, everybody on board are all working in one direction all the time. And you know they’ve obviously reaped unbelievable results.”

Stevens and the Celtics return to action Thursday at Milwaukee. Tip-off against the conference-leading Bucks is set for 8 p.m.