A former West Virginia star continues to impress an NBA head coach, and now, he has earned the ultimate award for his efforts – and in doing so, he has done something that hasn't been done since the 1970's.
Earlier this week, Joe Mazzulla was named 2026 NBA Coach of the Year for his efforts with the Boston Celtics. The honor was bestowed upon Mazzulla after leading the franchise to a 56-26 record his past season, which marks Mazzulla's fourth consecutive 50-win campaign at the helm of the Celtics. He earned the accolade with 392 total points in the vote, finishing 80 points ahead of runner-up J.B. Bickerstaff.
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has been named the 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year, earning the Red Auerbach Trophy. pic.twitter.com/Rbu86oBhak
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 26, 2026
With the award, Mazzulla became just the fourth head coach in the franchise's history to earn Coach of the Year honors. He is also the first Celtics coach to capture the award since Bill Fitch in 1979-80. However, neither of those are the most impressive part of him earning the honor.
That's because the honor was earned at 37 years old by Mazzulla, which establishes him as the youngest NBA Coach of the Year Award-winner since Phil Johnson in 1974-75 – breaking a 51-year record and joining quite the elite company.
Mazzulla also previously led the Celtics to 64 wins and the NBA championship two seasons ago, and his career coaching record moved to 238-90 with the conclusion of the regular season. The Celtics are 36-21 under Mazzulla in the NBA Playoffs. In college, Mazzulla starred for the West Virginia Mountaineers, helping lead them on their 2010 Final Four run and averaging 7.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game his senior season.
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