Coaching the Boston Celtics with the spirit of a deacon
By Giampaolo Mattei
Coaching the Boston Celtics is not Joseph Mazzulla’s only vocation. He also serves as a permanent deacon. Born in 1988 in Johnston, Rhode Island, Mazzulla also has Italian roots: his father is from Itri, while his mother is African American. After playing college basketball for the West Virginia Mountaineers, Mazzulla started coaching the Celtics full-time in 2023.
One year later, the team won the NBA title in 2024. However, this year, the Celtics’ run was cut short after losing in the semifinal match against the Philadelphia 76ers.
He married his wife Camai in 2014 and has a son, Emmanuel, and an adopted son, Michael. The coach stresses that family is at the center of everything, citing a passage from the Book of Joshua: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (24:15).
From childhood to coach
Faith has always played a role in the coach’s life. He describes himself as a fortunate man, above all because he grew up in an environment where the Catholic faith was part of everyday life.
He lived half a kilometer from a church. From an early age, he always went to Mass and attended Catholic school from kindergarten through high school. However, Mazzulla stresses how no one is perfect. He says he's made mistakes, but his faith has helped him rebuild himself.
Whether speaking to his players or to the highly competitive media, Mazzulla often draws on biblical references. It is part of who he is, the Coach explains. So much so that he does not define himself as a basketball coach. Rather, he calls himself a Christian who, through the experience of sports, is in service to God.
Moreover, Mazzulla stresses that this work is about more than performance or perfection. It is about grace, and grace has already been given.
With support from friends
Along this unique journey of faith and sports, Coach Mazzulla highlights his friendship with Father Marcel Taillon, pastor of Saint Thomas More Parish in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The two went to school together and he highlights how Father Taillon has been present through every stage of his life: high school, college, sports career, marriage. The Celtics coach calls it a grace that the two friends are still walking together in faith.
Mazzulla explains that he’s learned how important and essential faith is in life and particularly in sports. He stresses how when someone forgets that, they start chasing lies. It becomes easier to believe their identity is in basketball rather than in Jesus who died to give them life, he insisted.
In other words, life in the NBA is about more than money and success. Victory and defeat, Mazzulla points out, do not define us as people.
A Celtics inspired Rosary
It is no secret that the Celtics coach goes to Mass even during the height of the playoffs, when he’s far from home. He shares that he prays, but not to win the game or out of superstition, but because he finds a special inner joy in praying the Rosary. He recounts how he has a rosary made from the wood of the old Boston Celtics parquet floor.
Praying the Rosary is a practice that began when he was a child at school. At St. Mary’s, the school did a ‘living Rosary,’ where each student represented one decade. Mazzulla shares that his children continue this tradition, and he hopes they receive the same spiritual benefits.
Living out his faith comes before everything else. He says God places people in your life for a specific period of time — a day, a year, or five years. The question is: how can you bear witness to God for that person during the time you are given?
Ultimately, Coach Mazzulla explains that he is indebted to God, who allowed him to do the job of his dreams at such a young age. Moreover, he asks himself: How can I live it fully, remaining present and grateful? His response is to bring his passions together — family, faith, and basketball with the Boston Celtics.
That way, he explains he does not lose sight of the responsibility, the gift, and the mission God has entrusted to him. He confessed his greatest fear is that, ten years from now, he will find himself like the rich young man in the Gospel — with his life behind him and unwilling to give up his ‘earthly treasures’ after having given everything to worldly things.
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