Professional basketball coach Joe Mazzulla first made a name for himself as a player and coach in Mountain State sports, before gaining national prominence in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Mazzulla was born June 30, 1988, in Johnston, Rhode Island, and attended Bishop Hendricken High School, where he led his basketball team to three state titles. After high school, Mazzulla enrolled at West Virginia University. From 2006 to 2011, he played point guard on the men’s team under head coaches John Beilein and Bob Huggins. During his junior year, Mazzulla found himself in legal trouble, charged with underage drinking and domestic battery at a bar. This incident was a turning point for Mazzulla after getting a call from WVU great Jerry West, who encouraged him to take more responsibility for his actions both on and off the court.

In 2010, Mazzulla, with newfound direction, helped lead the Mountaineers to an upset victory over the University of Kentucky in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and a Final Four berth, the school’s first since West’s 1958-59 team.

After his collegiate career, Mazzulla served as an assistant basketball coach at Glenville State University from 2011 to 2013. During this time, he met his wife, Camai, a Glenville graduate and the school’s women’s head volleyball coach. The two married in Morgantown in 2014.

From 2013 to 2016, Mazzulla was an assistant coach at Fairmont State University. In 2016, Mazzulla became an assistant for the Maine Red Claws, an NBA G League team affiliated with the NBA’s Boston Celtics. In 2017, Mazzulla returned to Fairmont State as head coach. His record over the course of two seasons was 43-17, although he lost in the end-of-year Mountain East Conference tournament both years.

In 2019, Mazzulla joined the Celtics as an assistant coach. Following the 2022 suspension of head coach Ime Udoka, Mazzulla was elevated to interim head coach for the 2022-23 season and then hired as full-time head coach on February 16, 2023.

The Celtics finished the 2022-23 season with a 57-25 record and lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. The following year, Mazzulla coached the Celtics to a 64-18 record and a national championship over the Dallas Mavericks. With the win, Mazzulla became the youngest head coach since Bill Russell in 1969 to win a championship and the first former WVU player to coach a pro team to a championship since Joe Stydahar led the Los Angeles Rams to the NFL title in 1951. The championship win occurred only five days after Jerry West’s death.

Mazzulla reached the 100-win total faster than all but three coaches in NBA history.