Joe Mazzulla believes there are similarities between his career and that of Pep Guardiola. Mazzulla has used Guardiola’s career as a “roadmap.”
Mazzulla was promoted from relative obscurity ahead of the 22-23 season to become head coach of the Celtics following the suspension of Ime Udoka. Guardiola was promoted by Barcelona from their reserve team after the end of Frank Rijkaard’s tenure in 2008. Guardiola, however, had a long playing career as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Mazzulla played collegiately at West Virginia and quickly moved into coaching.
“Obviously, nowhere near the manager that Pep is but we share a similar beginning,” Mazzulla said in interview with Men in Blazers. “He was coaching Barcelona’s B team, I was in Maine’s G League team, and they could have easily gone for a bigger name, but they go to this guy sitting on the back bench with no experience.
“It became really a roadmap to how I wanted to go about building a culture, a team, and you know, taking over greatness. You take a look at his tactical ability, his ability to manage the best players, which I think is what separates coaches in any sport — that’s something that I thought I could really learn from.”