{"id":1189,"date":"2026-05-25T18:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:33:30","slug":"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","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1189","title":{"rendered":"Joe Mazzulla was \u2018a coach on the court\u2019 as a teen at Bishop Hendricken, and Tuesday he could be named NBA Coach of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>Coach Jamal Gomes was curious to see how his feisty and relentless freshman point guard would perform when Bishop Hendricken\u2019s 2002-03 boys\u2019 basketball season began.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1187\">Boston College, Northeastern, Holy Cross, Yale make 64-team field for NCAA Division 1 baseball tournament<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI remember his first game he was doing things that other guys on my team couldn\u2019t do,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cHis level of vision, understanding, awareness, all that. The reason I share that is because it wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So Gomes hasn\u2019t been surprised by the success of his former pupil, Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics\u2019 coach who is expected to be named NBA Coach of the Year on Tuesday night.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>\u201cHe 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,\u201d said Gomes, who still coaches at the all-boys school in Warwick, R.I. \u201cHe was at an age when, as a coach, you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHe says, \u2018Coach, you know, they\u2019re in a matchup zone right now. Maybe we should try this offense,\u2019 \u201d Gomes said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mazzulla spent a year as an assistant with the Celtics\u2019 G League affiliate in Maine, before returning to Fairmont as head coach in 2017. In 2019, he joined the Celtics\u2019 staff as an assistant under Brad Stevens, and in September 2022 he became interim head coach following Ime Udoka\u2019s suspension for having an improper relationship with a subordinate team employee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHey, Coach, how you doing?\u201d Gomes recalled Mazzulla asking him. \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1185\">Dametrious Crownover\u2019s position coach at Texas A&amp;M believes Patriots got a good one: \u2018His best football is ahead of him\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cRight off the bat I said, \u2018Listen, he\u2019s special,\u2019 \u201d Gomes said. \u201cI said, \u2018Joe Mazzulla is special.\u2019 And Brad Stevens looks at me and says, \u2018I know.\u2019 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 \u2026 I remember walking out of that practice thinking, \u2018Wow, he looked like he\u2019s been an NBA head coach for 10 years.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mazzulla, who became full-time coach in 2023, guided the Celtics to the franchise\u2019s 18th NBA title in just his second season. This season, despite notable departures and Jayson Tatum\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When Mazzulla was asked in March about the prospect of receiving the honor, he dismissed it and said it was a \u201cstupid award\u201d that would not properly recognize the achievements of his players and staff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Gomes chuckled when he recounted that on-brand reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI know for a fact he doesn\u2019t really care about the award,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cFor him, the proof is in doing your best and succeeding. You don\u2019t need awards and accolades to acknowledge that. I think he\u2019d much rather have the NBA trophy, holding that up again, for sure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cLook, it\u2019s a tough business,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cA lot of good players, a lot of good teams out there. It\u2019s 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\u2019re going to experience the highest of highs, and sometimes you\u2019re going to experience the lowest of lows, but your mind-set has to be the same. Joe gets it, and there\u2019s still great things to come for him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1183\">Payton Tolle has a side quest: collecting autographs and appreciating Red Sox history<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This season, despite notable departures and Jayson Tatum\u2019s lengthy absence because of his Achilles injury, Boston defied expectations and won 56 games. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Joe Mazzulla was \u2018a coach on the court\u2019 as a teen at Bishop Hendricken, and Tuesday he could be named NBA Coach of the Year - 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