First-year Celtics head coach Ime Udoka builds staff for 2021-22 season
First-year Celtics head coach Ime Udoka will have plenty of help on his staff in 2021-22, as the Celtics have confirmed the addition of six assistant coaches in total for the upcoming season. For Udoka, that staff will include Will Hardy, Damon Stoudamire, Ben Sullivan, Joe Mazzulla, Aaron Miles, and Tony Dobbins as assistant coaches.
Beginning at the top, Hardy reunites with Udoka after spending the last six seasons as an assistant coach with the Spurs. ‘
Hardy first joined San Antonio as a basketball operations intern in 2010, and had a two-year stint as the team’s video coordinator before earning a promotion to assistant coach in 2015. Hardy also served on the coaching staff during Team USA’s gold medal run at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Stoudamire rejoins the NBA game after spending the last five seasons at the University of Pacific. The 13-year NBA veteran led Pacific to a 23-10 finish in 2019-20 en route to being named both the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year and the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year, given annually to the top minority coach at the D-I level.
Stoudamire last coached at the NBA level as an assistant with the Grizzlies from 2009 through 2011.
Miles will join the Celtics after spending the last two seasons as a player development coach with the Golden State Warriors. Prior to his promotion to the Warriors’ NBA staff, Miles served as the head coach of the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors from 2017 through 2019. Under Miles’ watch, the S.C. Warriors went 57-43, including a 34-16 mark and trip to the G League Western Conference Finals in 2019.
The C’s are also adding some championship pedigree to the mix with the hiring of Sullivan, too, as he joins the Celtics after winning an NBA Championship in his third season as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.
Sullivan has seven total seasons of experience as an assistant coach in the NBA, including a four-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks from 2014 through 2018. Prior to his time in Milwaukee and Atlanta, Sullivan served as an assistant video coordinator with San Antonio while also working in its basketball development department.
Mazzulla and Dobbins, meanwhile, will stay with the Celtics as holdovers from Brad Stevens’ staff.
This will be Mazzulla’s third year as an assistant coach with the Celtics. Mazzulla most recently served as Boston’s head coach throughout the 2021 Las Vegas Summer League, guiding the Celtics to a 4-1 record and championship game appearance. In the case of Dobbins, this will be D.C. native’s second season as an assistant coach with the Celtics after spending the previous two years as the team’s video coordinator.
In addition to the coaching hires, the Celtics also announced that Evan Bradds, Garrett Jackson, DJ MacLeay, and Steve Tchiengang have been named to the player enhancement staff, while Matt Reynolds will serve as a special assistant to Udoka.
Click here for 98.5 The Sports Hub’s complete coverage of the Celtics.
