Interim Tag Removed! Joe Mazzulla Officially Named Celtics Head Coach

At the end of the 2022-23 season, the Boston Celtics could have went through an extensive search to find its next head coach. Instead, they've been impressed with the job that Joe Mazzulla has done as the interim and are naming him the 19th head coach in the franchise's history.

Joe Mazzulla is officially the 19th Head Coach in franchise history 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/LMcTLS1u0m
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 16, 2023

Heading into the All-Star break, Mazzulla has the Celtics sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 42-17, which is also the best record in the entire league.

'I'm happy for the state of West Virginia," Mazzulla said in response to my question about WVU alums having success in the NBA. "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."

Mazzulla learned a lot from one of the best to ever do it in Bob Huggins and has taken some of what he learned from the Hall of Famer and applied it to what he is doing now in Boston.

"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."

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