Joe Mazzulla was ‘a coach on the court’ as a teen at Bishop Hendricken, and Tuesday he could be named NBA Coach of the Year
Coach Jamal Gomes was curious to see how his feisty and relentless freshman point guard would perform when Bishop Hendricken’s 2002-03 boys’ basketball season began.
“I remember his first game he was doing things that other guys on my team couldn’t do,” Gomes said. “His level of vision, understanding, awareness, all that. The reason I share that is because it wasn’t that long after that that he and I had this relationship where he essentially became a coach on the court, because of his understanding of the game.”
So Gomes hasn’t been surprised by the success of his former pupil, Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ coach who is expected to be named NBA Coach of the Year on Tuesday night.
“He had that level of awareness at a very, very young age in terms of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of opponents, the game plan, the different offenses and defenses,” said Gomes, who still coaches at the all-boys school in Warwick, R.I. “He was at an age when, as a coach, you’re trying to teach kids these things in hopes that they grasp it by their senior year. He had a great understanding of that already and just continued to grow and mature.”
Mazzulla guided Bishop Hendricken to state championships in his final three seasons and was the state player of the year as a junior and senior. His acumen was as valuable as his talent. Gomes recalled one game in which the Hawks appeared unsettled against a strong opponent, and Mazzulla walked over to him during a break.
“He says, ‘Coach, you know, they’re in a matchup zone right now. Maybe we should try this offense,’ ” Gomes said. “It was that level of understanding where he recognized what the opposing team was in, knew what we needed to do to combat that, and then could go out and execute it.”
After completing a four-year playing career at West Virginia in 2011, Mazzulla spent five seasons as an assistant at Division 2 Glenville State (2011-13) and Fairmont State (2013-16). He told Gomes then that he intended to become an NBA head coach someday, and Gomes did not doubt him.
Mazzulla spent a year as an assistant with the Celtics’ G League affiliate in Maine, before returning to Fairmont as head coach in 2017. In 2019, he joined the Celtics’ staff as an assistant under Brad Stevens, and in September 2022 he became interim head coach following Ime Udoka’s suspension for having an improper relationship with a subordinate team employee.
Soon after, Mazzulla invited Gomes to attend his first practice at the Auerbach Center. Gomes was standing near a railing overlooking the court when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Hey, Coach, how you doing?” Gomes recalled Mazzulla asking him. “What do you think?”
Moments later, Gomes said, Stevens, now the president of basketball operations, walked over and introduced himself. He asked Gomes what he thought of his former player stepping in as coach of the Celtics.
“Right off the bat I said, ‘Listen, he’s special,’ ” Gomes said. “I said, ‘Joe Mazzulla is special.’ And Brad Stevens looks at me and says, ‘I know.’ It was just beautiful. It was beautiful. It was a very proud moment to see him doing what he loves at the highest level for maybe the greatest franchise in the history of sports … I remember walking out of that practice thinking, ‘Wow, he looked like he’s been an NBA head coach for 10 years.’ ”
Mazzulla, who became full-time coach in 2023, guided the Celtics to the franchise’s 18th NBA title in just his second season. This season, despite notable departures and Jayson Tatum’s lengthy absence because of his Achilles injury, Boston defied expectations and won 56 games, positioning Mazzulla to become the first Celtic to be named Coach of the Year since Bill Fitch in 1980.
When Mazzulla was asked in March about the prospect of receiving the honor, he dismissed it and said it was a “stupid award” that would not properly recognize the achievements of his players and staff.
Gomes chuckled when he recounted that on-brand reaction.
“I know for a fact he doesn’t really care about the award,” Gomes said. “For him, the proof is in doing your best and succeeding. You don’t need awards and accolades to acknowledge that. I think he’d much rather have the NBA trophy, holding that up again, for sure.”
That part is the open wound. Coach of the Year is based on regular-season performance. But in the postseason, the second-seeded Celtics became the first team in franchise history to cough up a 3-1 series lead when they fell to the seventh-seeded 76ers in the first round of the playoffs.
Still, Gomes believes that experience will shape and motivate the coach who was once a scrappy teenager helping him win high school basketball games with his skills and his bright mind.
“Look, it’s a tough business,” Gomes said. “A lot of good players, a lot of good teams out there. It’s not easy to win every year. And I think what he did with this team all season long leading up to the playoffs was spectacular. Sometimes you’re going to experience the highest of highs, and sometimes you’re going to experience the lowest of lows, but your mind-set has to be the same. Joe gets it, and there’s still great things to come for him.”
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