MORGANTOWN — For those who have followed Joe Mazzulla’s coaching career through the years, the report of him being a candidate for the next head coach for the Utah Jazz shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this week that Mazzulla — an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, who are currently in the NBA Finals — is one of several candidates who will be interviewed to replace Quin Snyder.
The report alone tells a story of how much the former WVU standout is held in high esteem around the NBA ranks.
It also shows how far he’s come, from his days as an assistant at Glenville State and Fairmont State, to a head coach in the NBA’s G League, before heading back to Fairmont State as a head coach for a couple of seasons.
Mazzulla is in his third season with the Celtics.
It’s here our mind begins to wander a bit toward WVU athletic director Shane Lyons, for he will likely be the man in charge of one day finding a successor for Bob Huggns as WVU’s men’s basketball coach.
To be sure, no one is looking to push Huggins out, but he will be 69 when next season begins, and can’t coach forever.
Huggins himself told the Cincinnati Enquirer this week he isn’t looking to leave the sidelines anytime soon.
“We had a horrible year last year,” Huggins said. “I’m not going to leave after a horrible year. I want to get the program back on track. I want it to be the best it can possibly be. When that happens, maybe we’ll take a look at it (retirement).”
But, if I’m Lyons, I’m not exactly just going to wait around and not prepare for Huggins’ eventual exit and then get caught off guard when it happens.
We’re guessing somewhere in the back of Lyons’ mind is some sort of short list of potential candidates when the day actually comes that Huggins decides to hang up his clipboard.
The big question: Does Mazzulla’s success in the NBA take him away as a candidate?
That’s really only a question Mazzulla can answer, but when you look at the financial numbers, as well as the current state of affairs in the college and pro games, that answer may be a resounding yes.
Now, we don’t know just how strong of a candidate Mazzulla is for the Jazz, but we can assume that once your name is out there for one NBA head coaching position, it will be out there for several others, too.
It does not seem far-fetched that Mazzulla will one day be in charge of an NBA team, so does that take him off WVU’s wish list?
First, let’s look at the numbers.
The average NBA salary for a head coach is somewhere between $3.5 and $4 million. There are certainly a number of NBA head coaches — like San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who made $11 million this season — who earn more than that.
The average NBA salary for head coaches is well below what the top NCAA coaches make.
Huggins earned $4.15 million last season. Kansas’ Bill Self earned a reported $10.18 million, while Kentucky’s John Calipari made $8.6 million.
To be sure, Lyons is not about to offer the next WVU coach the same $4.15 million annually Huggins currently makes, unless it is some sort of splash hire with similar credentials as Huggins.
Mazzulla’s not quite there, yet.
Then we look at the college game vs. the pros.
The transfer portal and NIL have changed the college game forever. Many will tell you we have professional free agency in college right now, but in reality, they’re still worlds apart in terms of dollar amounts, if not common sense, too.
As an NBA head coach, Mazzulla will have an owner and a general manager who handle free agency and the draft.
He wouldn’t have to worry about getting his starting point guard an NIL deal; wouldn’t be the one charged with out-recruiting the L.A. Lakers for a power forward.
In college, those responsibilities — right or wrong — generally fall to the head coach.
Scheduling is done by the NBA front office. There aren’t tons of boosters in your ear in the NBA.
All of these are built-in advantages for NBA head coaches over their college counterparts.
The one drawback, of course, is job security in the NBA is short, generally three to four years, while college coaches get a much longer leash.
That might be it, though, in terms of advantages for a college coach.
And that’s not a ton of incentive for Lyons to throw toward a guy who is becoming a hot commodity in the NBA at the moment.
If Mazzulla does eventually become a successful NBA head coach, this topic pretty much becomes a moot point.
But even looking at it in 2022, as long as Mazzulla is a candidate to be a head coach in the NBA that means it’s less likely he will ever coach the Mountaineers.
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