Interview with Jazz helped prepare Joe Mazzulla for Celtics HC job

Celtics

“Going through that process helped me articulate my strengths.”

Before his rise within the Celtics organization, Joe Mazzulla was considered for the Utah Jazz’s head coaching vacancy.

Mazzulla lost out on the job to a different former Boston assistant, Will Hardy, and everything seemed to work itself out in the long run. Ahead of the Celtics-Jazz matchup on Friday night, Mazzulla looked back on his interview with Utah.

Outside of a lack of fondness for suits — which he vowed not to wear after that day — Mazzulla recalled a lot of value in that opportunity, even though he lost out on the job.

“I appreciated that I got to go through that, especially doing it out of a different organization,” Mazzulla said. “You got to see how other organizations run things, what they’re looking for. And then you just get to put yourself up to the test.

“I kind of felt like going into that interview they asked me a particular question that I wasn’t quite ready to answer, and it was, ‘Do you think at a young age, you can run an organization?’ And I knew I could, but I didn’t give off the answer that I needed to give to get the job.”

“[Jazz] made the right choice in hiring Will Hardy”

Joe Mazzulla details his interview process with the Utah Jazz in 2022, getting beat out by former Celtics assistant coach, Will Hardy, and how the experience ultimately led him to landing the coaching job with the Celtics 🍀 pic.twitter.com/gZcrxK45n1

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 5, 2024

Mazzulla still thinks about that answer, and he continued to think about it as he began his head coaching career with the Celtics.

“Going through that process helped me articulate my strengths and what I think I can do. And that was a good process to have to go through,” Mazzulla said.

In year two of his tenure at the helm in Boston, Mazzulla has been a more than formidable head coach. He was recently named Eastern Conference coach of the month for December, as the Celtics sit atop the East and hold the best record in the NBA.

In his own right, Will Hardy has Utah on a hot streak. The Jazz have won three in a row and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. Mazzulla gave plenty of praise to Hardy, too, while reminiscing on that period of his career.

“They made the right choice in hiring Will [Hardy], I just want to be clear on that,” Mazzulla said, adding a quick “no” when a reporter followed up asking if he’s a better coach than Hardy.

Mazzulla might have been a little modest, given his team’s spot atop the standings, but at least it seems there’s no love lost between the two former assistants.