When Bob Huggins gave a heartbroken Joe Mazzulla an unexpected career suggestion: "You don't need both arms to play soccer"

Boston Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla, played under Bob Huggins at West Virginia University for four seasons. Huggins joined the Mountaineers in 2007 during Mazzulla's sophomore year.

By 2010, Mazzulla established himself as one of the most trusted players in a team that just made its first Final Four appearance in over fifty years. However, a year before that, Mazzulla was suffering from a nagging shoulder injury that almost derailed his career.

He played in only seven games that season and had surgery on his shoulder. Prior to surgery, Mazzulla was concerned that his injury would end his playing career. So he spoke to coach Huggins about his concerns.

The veteran coach responded to Mazzulla's fears with a joke.

"Well, you're always talking about you being the best soccer player in the state of Rhode Island; you can always go play soccer. You don't need arms for that," Huggins said, according to a March 2010 column by Rick Reilly of ESPN.

Mazzulla's left shoulder ailments were so severe that he had to shoot free throws with his right hand.

Despite this, in the 2009-10 season — a year after his surgery — Mazzulla started all 37 games for the Mountaineers and was a key contributor in their Elite Eight game against Kentucky. The West Virginia star recorded a career-high 17 points in the victory, along with three assists and two steals.

After the game, Mazzulla went looking for Huggins and embraced him.

"I had to find him," he said, "I never want him to forget that I love him. What he did for me, how he stuck with me, nobody else would've done it."

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Bob Huggins once recalled Joe Mazzulla’s leadership in Elite Eight win

Bob Huggins was convinced, based on what he had seen during Joe Mazzulla's time as a Mountaineer, that the latter would be a successful coach.

When the Boston Celtics hired Mazzulla to be their interim head coach in 2022, Huggins was one of the few to endorse the move.

"I think that everyone understood that Joe would be an outstanding coach if they watched him on the floor during his WVU Basketball playing days," Huggins said, per WV Sports.

"In our win over Kentucky in the Elite Eight, Joe knew what we needed to do to beat the No. 1 team in the country. I’m sure Joe will do a great job getting his players to take away the strengths of teams in the NBA."

Mazzulla proved Bob Huggins right, leading the Celtics to their 18th NBA championship last year, defeating the Dallas Mavericks 4-1.