When it comes to coaching, sometimes you have to push players in ways that makes everyone uncomfortable. But there is also an element of love involved in such moments, when done right, even if it doesn't look like our more traditional sort of behavior when we use a word like that. And Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knows that well, with a father and a college coach who both leaned into a tougher sort of love to help shape Mazzulla into who he is today. "I think everything comes down to love," said the Celtics coach in a recent interview with the "Champion Mindset" podcast.
"We want our kids to feel loved," he continued. "But I think you have to educate yourself and people (that) there's different definitions of love. And as I got older, I learned that my dad was loving me. It was just in a different way." Still, Mazzulla leans into the gaps of his father's coaching regarding a deficit of emotional intelligence to inform how he sees the job today. "I didn't know how to leverage the scars that he left or like the trauma that I may have felt from someone," said the West Virginia alum.
Mazzulla's father may not have been the gentlest of coaches, but when his coach at West Virginia (John Beilein) left to take the top job at Michigan, Dan Mazzulla convinced his son to stay put. "He went to Michigan, and I remember calling (my father)," said the Celtics coach. "And he was like, 'You're not leaving ... you're not transferring. You're staying there. I don't really care who the coach is'."
"He never let me transfer out of high school (...)," said Mazzulla. "He was just like, 'You pick that place, that's where you're going. You've got to figure it out'."
"So, (Coach Bob Huggins) comes, and he was the exact coach that I needed at the time. He was an exact replica of my dad with the ability to push you to a level that you didn't think you could get to, but at the same time have timely moments of love."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla on how he learned love was a part of the job