Getty Joe Mazzulla
Joe Mazzulla was born on June 30, 1988, in Johnston, Rhode Island, to Daniel Mazzulla Jr. and Latresa Mazzulla. He grew up in Johnston with two younger siblings, Justin and Gianna Mazzulla, and all three kids played basketball. Mazzulla, who became the youngest active head coach in the NBA at 34 years old, now lives in Boston with his wife Camai Mazzulla and their two children.
Here’s what you need to know about Joe Mazzulla’s family:
1. Joe Mazzulla’s Father, Daniel Mazzulla Jr., Was Diagnosed With Brain Cancer in 2019 & Died on April 22, 2020
Mazzulla was born to a Sicilian father, Daniel Mazzulla Jr., and Latresa Mazzulla. Dan Mazzulla played basketball throughout high school and college and then went to Chile and played professionally there for five years before returning to his hometown of Johnston, Rhode Island.
Once he returned home, he began working as the director of the Johnston Parks and Recreation Department, the Providence Journal reported. In fact, both Mazzulla’s father and grandfather spent their whole careers working for the Parks and Rec Department, the Boston Globe wrote.
Around a week after Mazzulla accepted the Boston Celtics assistant coaching job in 2019, his father was diagnosed with brain cancer, the Globe shared. He managed to make it to a few games and saw Mazzulla in his new role before the pandemic forced the NBA to be put on pause and Mazzulla got to spend more time with his ailing father.
“I don’t want to say we had to give him permission to die, but we almost had to be like, ‘Hey, we got this,'” Mazzulla told the Globe. “He was fighting for a little while because he didn’t want to let us down. But we could tell him, ‘you did your job.’ Once we were able to give him that peace, he was able to accept that.” Mazzulla died on April 22, 2020, and his eldest son gave his eulogy.
According to the Globe, Mazzulla’s mother, brother and sister still live in Rhode Island today.
2. Joe Mazzulla’s Father Daniel Mazzulla Was a Talented Basketball Player Who Played for a Few Years in Chile
Mazzulla’s father is the one that introduced all his kids to basketball as he was a talented player himself. After high school, he attended Bryant University in Rhode Island and played for the Bulldogs.
Dan Mazzulla was inducted into the Bryant University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, and according to the Johnston Sunrise, his bio at the induction stated that he was “One of the most prolific scorers in Bulldog history.”
“Mazzulla led the Bulldogs to a pair of 20-win seasons and the school’s first two NCAA tournament appearances,” it continued. “Mazzulla ranks 10th in career scoring with 1,390 career points scored at Bryant and ranks fourth in career rebounding with 761. In addition, he also holds the Bulldog single-season record with a .913 free throw percentage.”
Leo Papile, a former Celtics scouting director, recalled playing against Dan Mazzulla in the 1970s. “He was not a guy you’d want to be arguing with in a bar at 2 in the morning,” he told the Boston Globe. “That would just not end up good for you.” He then shared that Dan Mazzulla “was a hell of a player. We had a fistfight when we were playing against each other in a semi-pro game in North Providence in ’73 but we later became really good friends. He was a really good guy.”
Dan Mazzulla was a tough coach to his teams and his children. The Boston Celtics head coach recalled going through difficult workouts led by his father. “We did pushups for everything. Make a mistake? Pushups. Have something good to celebrate? Pushups,” he smiled as he told the Globe about it.
Dan Mazzulla’s younger son Justin told the publication that his father would have been so proud of his eldest son becoming the head coach of the Celtics. “My dad would call him every week and just be like, ‘Hey, you’ve got a lot of work to do up there,'” he shared. “He always expected more, and that’s what drove us, especially my brother.”
3. Joe Mazzulla Has 2 Younger Siblings, a Brother & Sister, Who Both Played Basketball Growing Up
Mazzulla has two younger siblings, a sister named Gianna Mazzulla and a brother named Justin Mazzulla, both of whom played basketball while growing up. Justin Mazzulla played at George Washington then transferred to the University of Vermont, where he played his senior season and fifth year season.
According to his college athletics profile, Justin Mazzulla was a starter in 26 games during the 2021-22 season and ranked fourth in scoring average with 7.6. He also made the America East Academic Honor Roll and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychological science with minors in coaching and Spanish.
Following his collegiate career, he joined the University of Rhode Island basketball staff as a graduate assistant in 2022. His bio states that he “was a performance coach and head coach for Rise to the Top from 2021-22, where he organized Junior NBA youth basketball leagues and was the head coach of the fifth-grade AAU program.”
Gianna Mazzulla, who played basketball for her father at Johnston High School, now helps teach basketball clinics with the Johnston Parks and Recreation Department, according to RhodyBeat.
She has two kids, a son Jaziah, who started 8th grade in August 2022, and a daughter named Giabella, who had her first day of school at the same time. According to her social media, her kids are very close with Mazzulla’s two sons and often spend time together. She’s very supportive of her older brother and shared with the Boston Globe that it was incredible to see him become the Celtics’ head coach.
“I was just like, ‘This is sick,'” she shared. “My brother’s really coaching the Celtics. He blinked, and he’s where he always dreamed he’d be.”
4. Joe Mazzulla Is Married to Camai Roberson Mazzulla, a Former Volleyball Player & Coach Who Later Worked as a Probation Officer
It was good to see WVian Camai Mazzulla, who is in DC today for Criminal Justice Reform Capitol Hill Day. #AllRise15 http://t.co/3kTkt4CzCM
Mazzulla is married to Camai Roberson Mazzulla, a former collegiate athlete who he met when they were both on the coaching staff at Glenville State. Camai Mazzulla ran track and played volleyball in college, and when she graduated from Glenville State, she took the next step in her athletic journey and became the women’s volleyball coach, according to the school’s website.
Mazzulla joined Glenville State as an unpaid assistant for the basketball team and met his future wife soon after. Camai Mazzulla was hosting an athletic department breakfast but no one except the two of them showed up, he shared with the Boston Globe. While speaking with the “More Than a Season” podcast, Camai Mazzulla revealed that the two became friends first before deciding to pursue a relationship.
Camai Mazzulla coached at Glenville State until the 2013 season, after which she left athletics to focus on a more stable 9-to-5 job. She shared during her podcast appearance that the couple decided it made more sense to focus on Mazzulla’s coaching career rather than hers because he was a lot more passionate about coaching and there would be more opportunities in his sport than hers.
Camai Mazzulla’s LinkedIn profile states that she worked as a deputy clerk for the Marion County Clerk’s Office from 2013 to 2014. Afterward, she took a job as a probation officer with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a position she held from 2014 to 2019 when the family moved to Boston.
While working full-time as a probation officer, Camai Mazzulla told the “More Than a Season” podcast hosts that she also studied for her master’s in criminal justice and corrections, coached her oldest son’s basketball team and also took care of her 4-month-old baby. She said it didn’t really seem like a lot at the time and she just put her head down and did what she needed to do.
5. Joe & Camai Mazzulla Have Two Sons & the Celtics Coach Has Said That His Family Is the Most Important Thing in His Life
The Mazzullas have two sons, Michael and Emmanuel. Their eldest, Michael Harden, is actually Mazzulla’s stepson but the Celtics coach has often referred to his kids as his children.
He hasn’t hesitated to show love to his family, writing for the Fairmont State Athletics website a letter thanking Fairmont and West Virginia for his time there upon his departure for Boston.
“My wife Camai, my stepson Michael and my youngest son Emmanuel are the most important people in my life,” Mazzulla wrote in 2019. “Thank you Camai for your love, support and sacrifice. You are the true face of our family by how you keep us all together and give everything you have every day.”
Mazzulla said when he married his wife on August 9, 2014, he immediately became stepfather to Michael and that helped him mature quickly. “It made me grow up,” Mazzulla told Sports Illustrated. “She was very adamant on what’s important to her life and what’s important for her son and for her family. She set a standard. I had to man up to that standard.”