![]() ![]() "I believe strongly in Joe's substantiveness as a person," Stevens said. When asked during Friday's press conference about the incidents, and how they factored into the decision to make Mazzulla the team's interim coach, Stevens said he vetted them thoroughly when he hired Mazzulla as an assistant with the Celtics in 2019. You've seen growth from his first year."ĭuring his college years, Mazzulla was arrested twice - once, in 2008, for underage drinking and aggravated assault, a case in which he pled guilty and paid a fine, and then in 2009 for domestic battery after an incident at a bar, a case that was settled out of court. He's gotten so much more knowledgeable, more detailed, just vocal. "You could tell how passionate about the guys and his craft. "I love Joe," Jayson Tatum said of Mazzulla before Game 6 of the Finals. (The Jazz wanted Mazzulla to join Hardy as an assistant, but the Celtics kept him in Boston.) Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Mazzulla was a finalist for the Jazz head-coaching job this summer - a position that ultimately went to Hardy, Udoka's top assistant last season. "Somebody that all worked with closely, believed in and understood his upside." "He was a guy that there was a consensus, yes," Udoka said the day before Game 6 of the NBA Finals in June. When Udoka came aboard in June 2021, Mazzulla remained on the Celtics' staff. Two years later, then-Celtics head coach Brad Stevens hired Mazzulla.įollowing his one season in the G League, Mazzulla returned to Fairmont State as its head coach in 2017, going a combined 43-17 across two seasons before coming to the Celtics in 2019. They initially brought him into the NBA's orbit in 2016, when they hired him as an assistant for the G League's Maine Red Claws. The Celtics had been high on Mazzulla - who is from Warwick, Rhode Island - for some time. Mazzulla made his name playing 145 games for West Virginia from 2006 to 2011, first for John Beilein and then Bob Huggins.Īfter college, Mazzulla spent five years as an assistant coach in the Division II ranks - with Glenville State from 2011 to 2013, and Fairmont State, located roughly 20 miles southwest of Morgantown, West Virginia, from 2013 to 2016. Here's a look at the young coach's past experience, along with the task ahead of him this season: Mazzulla, meanwhile, takes over a championship contender coming off a magical run to the Finals - and does so with only two years of head-coaching experience (at a small college) under his belt. Shortly after hiring Hardy, Ainge traded away Rudy Gobert and then Donovan Mitchell, sending the Jazz into a full-on rebuild as a result. ![]() The two of them, however, couldn't have different expectations coming into the season. Mazzulla and Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy - who was Udoka's lead assistant last season, before being hired in the summer by former Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to replace Quin Snyder - are now tied for the distinction of being the youngest head coach in the NBA. He is also the youngest to be in that position to start a season since late Celtics legend Bill Russell, who became player-coach of the franchise in 1966-67 at 32 years old. (That year, Frank took over midseason when the New Jersey Nets - who had made the Finals the prior two seasons - fired head coach Byron Scott.) Mazzulla, 34, is the youngest head coach to take over a team that reached the NBA Finals the prior season since Lawrence Frank in 2003-04, per ESPN Stats & Information research. ![]() ![]() In three years, he has gone from coaching in Division II to the helm of a team projected to have the most wins in the NBA this season, according to Caesars Sportsbook. The move continues a meteoric rise for Mazzulla within basketball coaching circles. In the wake of Celtics coach Ime Udoka being suspended for the entire 2022-23 season for having an intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise's staff, Mazzulla has been elevated from assistant to interim head coach of the defending Eastern Conference champions. The Boston Celtics will have an interim head coach on the sidelines this upcoming NBA season, and everyone outside of the Northeast may be wondering: NBA, Boston Celtics, West Virginia Mountaineers Who is Joe Mazzulla? Meet the interim head coach of the Boston Celtics You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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