Joseph Mazzulla (born June 30, 1988) is an American professional
basketball coach
Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...
who is the head coach for the
Boston Celtics of the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
(NBA). He played college basketball for
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...
.
High school career
![Joe Mazzulla playing basketball in the division l high school state championship game 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Joe_Mazzulla_playing_basketball_in_the_division_l_high_school_state_championship_game_2005.jpg)
Mazzulla attended
Bishop Hendricken High School
Bishop Hendricken High School (or Hendricken) is a Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school located in Warwick, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
Founded by the Brothers of the Holy Cross in 1959, and named ...
in Rhode Island, where he made the all-state first team.
He won three state titles at Bishop Hendricken, with his third as a senior on a last-second shot.
College career
As a freshman at
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
, Mazzulla helped the team win the
2007 National Invitation Tournament
The 2007 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams which did not participate in the 2007 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The West Virgi ...
under coach
John Beilein
John Patrick Beilein ( ; born February 5, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as the Senior Player Development Advisor for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before being hired b ...
.
In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Mazzulla posted 13 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in a second-round upset of
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
. He was forced to redshirt the 2008–09 season due to a shoulder injury against
Ole Miss, as his growth plate never fused with his shoulder. He was unsure if he would ever play again, but practiced for two hours a day and underwent risky surgery. In April 2009, he was arrested for domestic battery at a bar in
Morgantown, West Virginia and was suspended by coach
Bob Huggins
Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953) is an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed “Huggy Bear,” he is currently the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coach ...
.
As a redshirt junior, Mazzulla was named a captain and helped West Virginia reach the 2010 Final Four. He scored 17 points in the Elite Eight upset of
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
.
As a senior, he averaged 7.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
In his career, he scored 700 points and dished out 340 assists.
Coaching career
College coaching career
Shortly after graduating college, Mazzulla was offered a coaching job at
Nova Southeastern. He turned it down to pursue professional opportunities. He did not find any suitable opportunities overseas, and in September 2011 he joined
Glenville State as an assistant. Mazzulla was hired as an assistant at
Fairmont State under
Jerrod Calhoun in 2013.
During the 2016–17 season, he served as an assistant for the
Maine Red Claws
The Maine Celtics (formerly the Maine Red Claws) are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo B ...
of the
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...
. Mazzulla was named head coach of Fairmont State in March 2017.
In his second season, he led the team to a 22–9 record and appearance in the
2019 NCAA Division II Tournament, where they lost in the first round to
Mercyhurst, 63–60, in overtime.
Boston Celtics
In June 2019, he was hired as an assistant coach of the
Boston Celtics.
Mazzulla was named interim head coach for the Celtics after
Ime Udoka
Ime Sunday Udoka ( ; born August 9, 1977) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA), currently suspended by the team for the ...
was suspended for the entire
2022–23 season on September 22, 2022. On December 1, 2022, he was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for October and November, following the Celtics beginning their season with a league-best 18–4 record.
Personal life
Mazzulla was born in
Johnston, Rhode Island
Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 29,568 at the 2020 census. Johnston is the site of the Clemence Irons House (1691), a stone-ender museum, and the only landfill in Rhode Island. Incorpora ...
. He is the son of basketball coach
Dan Mazzulla, who played college basketball at
Bryant and professionally for five years in Chile.
In 2007, Dan Mazzulla was inducted into the Bryant Hall of Fame. He died of cancer in April 2020. Joe's younger brother, Justin, played basketball at
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
before transferring to the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...
. Joe and his wife have two children. He is a devout Catholic.
Joe Who? Everyone in Rhode Island knows Johnston Joe Mazzulla
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Head coaching record
College
NBA
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Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
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References
External links
College stats
at Sports-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzulla, Joe
1988 births
Living people
African-American Catholics
Basketball coaches from Rhode Island
Basketball players from Rhode Island
Bishop Hendricken High School alumni
Boston Celtics assistant coaches
Fairmont State Fighting Falcons men's basketball coaches
Glenville State Pioneers basketball coaches
Maine Red Claws coaches
People from Johnston, Rhode Island
Sportspeople from Providence County, Rhode Island
West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball players