By Matthew Davis
Even for the Boston Celtics’ storied past, what head coach Joe Mazzulla has achieved in his young career is already pretty good, and now it has awarded him with a multi-year contract extension, which it announced on Friday.
In three seasons, Mazzulla has won an NBA championship and owned the best record in the league during that span. The Celtics have won the Atlantic Division every year under Mazzulla, and the team has won at least 57 or more games each time and reached at least the Eastern Conference semifinals annually.
“This is truly a blessing,” Mazzulla said in a statement on Friday. “I would not be here without my faith, my wife, and my children. We are thankful for the partnership with our ownership groups, Brad’s mentorship, and the support of our staff,” he said.
“Most importantly, I am grateful for the players I have been able to coach the past three seasons. I look forward to competing for the Celtics and the city of Boston.”
The details of the contract were not announced.
Change it to: Mazzulla’s time with the Celtics began as an assistant coach in 2019, when he worked under former head coach Brad Stevens and later Ime Udoka. That all changed in September 2022 when Mazzulla became the interim head coach on short notice when Udoka received a suspension due to violating team policy.
Mazzulla led the Celtics to a 57–25 record for the 2022–2023 season. The Celtics named him the head coach during February of that season when he led the team to the Eastern Conference finals.
“He understands the job and has a passion for the Celtics that is only rivaled by our most die-hard fans,” Stevens said in a statement. “He’s worked hard and accomplished amazing things in his first three years as a head coach—including averaging over 60 wins per season and winning the 2024 NBA Championship. Joe is a gifted leader who brings a consistent commitment to learning, improving, and maximizing each day we get to compete for the Boston Celtics.”
Mazzulla’s title with the Celtics hearkened back to the team’s storied past in a unique way as he became the youngest head coach, 37 at the time, to win a championship since 1969. Late Celtics legend Bill Russell led the team to a title in 1969 as a player-coach at 35 years of age.
Boston also tied the Los Angeles Lakers for the most titles in NBA history at 18 in 2024, and Mazzulla will be tasked with putting the Celtics back ahead of the Lakers for the most crowns. Meanwhile, he’s the winningest active head coach with 100 or more games in the league at 182–64 and a .740 winning percentage.
Mazzulla’s approach has worked with Celtics stars such as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in a system that features high-octane offense and tight defense. Tatum has been an MVP contender, and Brown was a major part of the Celtics’ 2024 title run.
Boston will face a challenge without Tatum for at least almost all of the season due to an Achilles injury. For now, Mazzulla’s contract extension puts his future to rest and how the Celtics will handle a possible rebuilding year in 2025–2026.
A Rhode Island native, Mazzulla has a longstanding connection with basketball in the New England region. He was a high school basketball star in Rhode Island at Bishop Hendricken, followed by a solid collegiate career at West Virginia.
After his Mountaineers career, where he helped the team reach the 2010 Final Four, Mazzulla got into assistant coaching at Division II Glenville State in West Virginia. That led to another assistant job at Division II Fairmont State in West Virginia and then an assistant job with the NBA G League Celtics affiliate, formerly called the Maine Red Claws, before his first head coaching job back at Fairmont State in 2017, before he finally landed with the Celtics.
