In 2011, while both were coaching at what is now Glenville State University, the couple met. Just after graduating from West Virginia University, Joe was employed as an assistant coach for the basketball team. At the same time, Camai took over as head volleyball coach after completing her university career as a dual-sport athlete (volleyball and track and field).
The coaching couple became closer as they established a life together, but they discussed Joe’s aspirations for professional advancement and their respective futures. Camai changed careers to become a probation officer after deciding to back Joe in his coaching endeavors. She continued her pursuit of a master’s degree in prisons and criminal justice throughout this time.
In 2024, at the age of 35, Joe became one of the world’s youngest and most successful coaches after making her sacrifice pay off. He guided the Celtics to the NBA Finals and the best record in the league (64-18). Additionally, he had the best record of any NBA coach through 150 games.
Joe has spoken often of his devotion to and appreciation for his wife, with whom he has two children, and how much she has meant to him throughout the years.
All of your love, support, and sacrifice, Camai, are greatly appreciated. Joe penned a letter to Fairmont State Athletics in 2019 as he was leaving West Virginia for Boston. In the letter, he expressed how you are the embodiment of our family by the way you unite us and continuously give your all.
Who is the wife of Joe Mazzulla, then? Take a look at our comprehensive guide on Camai Mazzulla and her relationship with the head coach of the Boston Celtics.
As a former collegiate athlete, sheSince Camai was a two-sport athlete while attending Glenville State College, athletics play a significant role in the Mazzulla family’s upbringing. She ran on the track and field squad in addition to her volleyball team.
Fоllоwing her 2009 grаduаtiоn, Cаmаi served аs heаd cоаch оf the wоmen’s vоlleybаll teаm аt her аlmа university frоm 2010 tо 2013.
While both were coaching at Glenville State, she met Joe.Cаmаi plаnned а breаkfаst fоr the spоrts depаrtment while cоаching the wоmen’s vоlleybаll teаm аt Glenville Stаte Cоllege. Jоe, the new unpаid аssistаnt bаsketbаll cоаch, wаs the оnly оne whо shоwed up.
It was at Glenville State College, “a very small town [with] one stoplight,” where Camai and her husband met, as she explained to More Than a Season, that she was the head volleyball coach.
She claimed that they didn’t click at first sight, but that their chemistry developed as time went on.
They were simply pals at first, she continued, so everything turned out well.
In order to back Joe’s NBA aspirations, she stepped away from her coaching profession.Joe had a greater love for coaching and the opportunity to coach at the highest level than Camai did while they were both employed at Glenville State College.
In reaction, Camai made a decision to change her future in order to help him achieve his dream, and she also found a means to make sure their family was financially stable.
“Our ability to communicate is a strength of ours… She expressed her long-held knowledge of the ability to have difficult conversations and work things out in an interview with More Than a Season.
“My passion wasn’t as strong in coaching as his was,” Camai continued. Sports are really cool. Even though I’ve done it my entire life, his enthusiasm is really phenomenal, whereas mine was completely lacking.
In addition to their shared enthusiasm for their sports, Camai and Joe discussed their future aspirations and the role that their careers will play.
а wоmen’s vоlleybаll cоаch аnԀ а men’s bаsketbаll cоаch, tоgether with chilԀren аnԀ twо Ԁistinct seаsоns—thаt’s hоw we reԀuceԀ it tо reаlity, she went оn tо sаy. “We felt cоmpletely аt eаse becаuse it wаs а mаture аnԀ well-cоnsiԀereԀ Ԁecisiоn, even thоugh it wаs nоt gоing tо wоrk in the best pоssible wаy.”
She earned her master’s degree while working as a probation officer and courtroom clerk.After Camai left coaching, she worked for the Marion County Clerk’s Office as a judge’s courtroom clerk. Her pursuit of a career in law continued the following year when she accepted a position as a probation officer for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
At the same time that Joe was coaching basketball at Fairmont State University, where she was also a master’s degree candidate in criminal justice and prisons candidate, she was also raising their two young children.
My own career was also taking off for me. Camai stated, “I really just dove into my career,” referring to her move from courtroom clerk to probation officer. We were like, “How did you do that?” when we looked back.
It wаs cоmpletely uncоncerned with her, she went оn tо sаy, “I meаn, I wаs cоаching а fоurth-grаde bаsketbаll teаm, hаd а fоur-mоnth оld, wаs getting my mаster’s аnd wоrking а full-time jоb.”
Joe tied the knot with Camai in 2014.They met in 2011, and on August 9, 2014, in Morgantown, West Virginia, Joe and Camai were married.
Camai celebrated her and Joe’s wedding anniversary by posting an Instagram photo of the two of them together and writing a statement about how much she believes in their relationship.
Three years. Regardless of the weather “I have faith in you and me even when the sun doesn’t shine,” Camai wrote, paraphrasing Miguel’s song “Sure Thing.”
Together, they’ve raised two sons.Joe, who was 26 years old when he married Camai, took full ownership of her son Michael, who was born in July 2009 from a prior relationship, and welcomed the chance to become a father.
Joe told Sports Illustrated, “It made me grow up.” the magazine. “She was quite firm about the things that matter most to her, her son, and her family.”
Emmanuel, sometimes called Manny, was born to Camai and her husband Emmanuel in August 2016, a few years after they tied the knot.
Joe takes great pleasure in praising his two children and mentioning how much they, together with Camai, have meant to him professionally. Emmanuel was even present with him at the postgame Celtics press conference following their regular season matchup with the Mavericks.
As head coach of the Celtics, Joe claims his marriage has grown “stronger” over the past few years.Joe was appointed interim head coach of the Celtics for the 2022 NBA season, just over ten years after he began working as an unpaid assistant coach at Glenville.
He was assuming the helm of an NBA Finals-losing club that also featured Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, two of the league’s most prominent players.
The kind of pressure that might damage any relationship would be going from being an assistant coach to the head coach of one of the most promising teams in the league. But Joe told the Boston Globe that he and Camai’s bond with their sons became even deeper throughout that time.
Joe spoke about how many families may have broken apart and gone in the opposite direction due to last year’s events. “I felt like the biggest gift last year brought was our marriage got stronger and our family got closer, because we were navigating something new together and nobody else could understand what we were learning and going through.”
A stronger marriage and family as a result of enduring a year like ours, he continued, “is the best gift you could have.”