Joe Mazzulla - Celtics Head Coach, Mountaineer at Heart

Catching up with the former Mountaineer, who is now the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

Joe Mazzulla embodies everything it means to be a Mountaineer. A blue-collar, scrappy, hard-working fighter. He battled through a shoulder injury following the 2008-09 season, and there was fear that he may never play basketball again, but he did and made his way back, and played a major role in West Virginia's upset over Kentucky in the Elite Eight with an astounding 17 points.

WVU had a significant advantage in having Mazzulla on the court, operating as a coach on the floor. His IQ, leadership, and unselfishness allowed the Mountaineers to compete at a high level, highlighted by the Mountaineers' run to the Final Four in 2010. To this day, WVU head coach Bob Huggins praises Mazzulla for his guidance in implementing the 1-3-1 zone defense which became a big part of their success.

Mazzulla, obtaining tutelage from the likes of John Beilein and Huggins, took off the uniform and grabbed the clipboard, immediately entering the coaching ranks and getting his start at Glenville State in 2011. He also served as an assistant at Fairmont State (2013-16) and for the Maine Red Claws, a G-League affiliate of the Celtics before returning to Fairmont for his first head coaching opportunity. In just two years, Mazzulla led the Fighting Falcons to a 43-17 record. An opportunity arose to join Brad Stevens' staff in Boston in 2019 and it was one he couldn't pass up.

Despite the rapid rise in the coaching ranks, Mazzulla stays close to his WV roots, remaining in contact with beloved Hall of Fame head coach Bob Huggins.

"He gets a bad rep because of how intense he is during the games but he's one of the most thoughtful, one of the most relationship-oriented coaches that I know. What I learned from him was how to build relationships with your guys, how to hold them accountable, and how to be tough on them—at the same time, loving them on and off the floor. If you asked any one of his former players, they love him because you just know he has your back and he wants you to be the best. So, I've taken a lot of how he manages talent and how he manages relationships and used a lot of that."

Mazzulla dropped in on the Mountaineers during the Celtics' road trip and attended the Oklahoma State game, sitting behind the WVU bench, and frequent phone calls between the two have become notables in Huggins’ pressers, often with Huggins reflecting back to the 2010 Final Four run.

"We had the advantage of playing all those years. Albeit John [Beilein] played one way, we play another way…but they played together, and they knew each other.”

Huggins doesn't divulge into the details of the conversations, keeping his conversations with Mazzulla private but he is willing to share Mazzulla's love for West Virginia.

“Joe loves West Virginia - loves the basketball program. Joe and I have a very good, very close relationship. It was more about what’s going on in the program...how do we continue to fix it? He was at the Oklahoma State game, sat behind the bench, and was able to take in a lot of things which we talked about that will stay between he and I.”

Larry Harrison, former longtime WVU assistant head coach, also meant a lot to Mazzulla. The two were at WVU together from 2007-11 and he knows just how much Harrison has meant to the program over the last 15 1/2 years.

"Larry is a great person. I've known him for a long time. Don't really know the details of what went on, but I do know he's a great person, he's a great coach. He cares about the guys. Over the course of time that he's been at West Virginia he's put in a lot of hard work."

Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics own the NBA's best record at 33-12.

Mazzulla is highly thought of around the NBA and this goes back to before he was named the interim head coach of the Celtics. The Utah Jazz had an interest in hiring him for the head coaching job this past offseason before ultimately going in a different direction. Although it may not be exactly how he dreamt of his first NBA head coaching opportunity coming about with Ime Udoka getting suspended before the start of the season, it's one he hasn't taken for granted.

Two other former West Virginia guards are representing the basketball program at the highest level. Jevon Carter has become a key piece for the Milwaukee Bucks and Miles "Deuce" McBride is beginning to earn more minutes with the New York Knicks in his second year in the league.

'I'm happy for the state of West Virginia. When you talk about West Virginia University, you talk about the state because they don't have a pro sports team. The people there are very passionate. It's about the people. It's about the school. It's about the athletes. It's about the students that go there. I think every athlete, no matter the sport, has done a great job of representing West Virginia and it's even cooler when you travel around the country and there's West Virginia supporters everywhere."

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