Joe Mazzulla breaks down why he coaches the Boston Celtics

Sometimes, all it takes is the right question — even a common, obvious one — to have things snap into place with a certain perspective. And being asked about why he does what he does for a living was the catalyst for increased clarity for Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla on why he coaches basketball as a calling as much as a job. The West Virginia alum told the story of how it call came into focus in a recent interview with the “No Show Dogs” podcast in something of an origin story for one of the best coaches in the NBA. “I was still … (thinking) I might want to play, I might want to explore trying to play overseas or something like that,” said Mazzulla.

“I turned down my first coaching job to potentially be an assistant at Nova Southeastern, and to pursue like a summer off-season of ‘Hey, do I really want to be a professional basketball player or try to be?'” added the Celtics coach. “And in that space, once I turned that down, up until later that October where I ended up going to Glenville State, I ended up proving to myself that I don’t really want to be a professional.”

“I probably wasn’t good enough too” added Mazzulla. “I wasn’t willing to commit to what it meant to be a professional basketball player.”

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“And I felt like (Nova Southeastern) coach (Gary) Tuelle was right,” said Mazzulla. “I was like, ‘This is calling and something that I want to pursue, and so fortunately I was able to get back into it. So that was an interesting story (…).”

“I was in that space of wanting to figure it out, of what I wanted to do but I think the answer really comes from just from my dad, and then as a young kid. I didn’t really realize it until people started asking me the question of why you got into coaching. And the answer is I’ve never had a negative experience with a coach. And I’ve had some of the best coaches, whether it was basketball or soccer. I’m still friends with most of my coaches today. I remember their names. I remember the practice plans and the principles that they taught me. And so I think part of getting to where you want to get to is being surrounded by good people. And I’ve been surrounded by great coaches my entire life.”

“I was in that space of wanting to figure it out, of what I wanted to do but I think the answer really comes from just from my dad, and then as a young kid. I didn’t really realize it until people started asking me the question of why you got into coaching. And the answer is I’ve never had a negative experience with a coach. And I’ve had some of the best coaches, whether it was basketball or soccer. I’m still friends with most of my coaches today. I remember their names. I remember the practice plans and the principles that they taught me. And so I think part of getting to where you want to get to is being surrounded by good people. And I’ve been surrounded by great coaches my entire life.”

“I think you want to give that back to your players, but you also want to give that back to people, the experience that I got from them,” said the Celtics coach.

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Joe Mazzulla breaks down why he coaches the Boston Celtics