One of the toughest stretches in Joe Mazzulla's life set him on his current career path, one that his current boss feels is on a rapid ascent.
As he sat the 2008-09 season as a point guard for West Virginia University - a serious shoulder injury relegating him to a spectator's role - Mazzulla finally got a long look at the game from another angle. And he realized he still wanted to be part of the game once his playing days came to a close.
"I saw exactly what the ins and outs of coaching were," Mazzulla said. "I was really just learning more about the profession and what makes guys tick and what makes coaching, coaching. People look from the outside in and they think it's just about wins and Xs and Os, but there's so much more."
Now Mazzulla is in his third season as an assistant coach of Fairmont State University's men's basketball team. The fifth-ranked Falcons (12-1, 6-1 Mountain East) will conclude their Kanawha Valley swing at 7:30 p.m. today. After beating Charleston, 66-65, on Sunday, FSU visits West Virginia State (4-8, 2-5 MEC) at the Walker Convocation Center. UC (6-7. 3-4 MEC) hosts Shepherd (8-5, 3-4) at 7:30 p.m. today at the Civic Center.
As a junior, Mazzulla was named MVP in WVU's upset of Kentucky in the East Regional final, which catapulted the Mountaineers into the Final Four. His senior season, he led the Mountaineers in assists (4.2 per game) as West Virginia reached the NCAA tournament's round of 32.
After WVU, Mazzulla spent two seasons at Glenville State on a staff that included another former Mountaineer player turned MEC head coach, current Urbana head coach Rob Summers. Then Mazzulla got the chance to join Jarrod Calhoun's staff at Fairmont State. Calhoun worked under Bob Huggins at WVU from 2007-12 and saw that the qualities that served Mazzulla as a player transferred to his coaching life.
"He's probably one of the hardest workers I've ever seen," Calhoun said. "He's very motivated. He's just matured."
And he was able to take the lessons learned as a player - the Xs and Os from former WVU coach John Beilein and both the Xs and Os and defensive philosophies from Huggins - and bring them to his current role. Where Mazzulla has really been able to shine, Calhoun said, is in his ability to work with players and make them better.
"He's the best skill-development guy I've ever seen," Calhoun said. "I think it's his knowledge. He watches games every night. He's a video guy. He watches games from Europe, of some of his former teammates."
The key to effectively honing a player's skills comes long before the coach puts the player through any drill, Mazzulla said. And that first step doesn't focus on footwork or hand-eye coordination. It centers on a player's mind.
"First, it's developing that relationship," Mazzulla said. "It's getting that guy to trust that a coach can make me a better player. Developing that mindset and creating that buy-in with the kid is half the battle. And then it's a matter of believing. A lot of kids we have, they have the skill. It's just a matter of believing they have it."
"You think about skill development, you think workouts," he added. "But it's more of a mentality, it's more of a psychological thing. It's just getting guys to believe in themselves and develop that trust."
Mazzulla has plenty of important responsibilities on the Fairmont State bench. He's in charge of sideline and baseline out-of-bounds plays. It was a baseline out-of-bounds play that led to the Falcons' game-winning 3-pointer over UC. And Calhoun said Mazzulla has lots of input in Fairmont State's offense, which is second in the MEC and ninth in Division II at 92.4 points per game.
Mazzulla's contributions to Fairmont State's success has Calhoun thinking it won't be long until his assistant is running a team of his own.
"I think he's close," Calhoun said. "He's very, very close and inching closer. The guy has paid his dues."
Mazzulla would love to be a head coach one day, and continues to soak in all the nuances of the profession. He's learning when and how to react in different situations, how to coach hard but keep the players from seeing he's on edge and which coaching face to wear in different scenarios.
In soaking in the lessons from those he's played and worked for and around - Calhoun, Beilein and Huggins, among others - Mazzulla feels he's on the right path.
"I'm just trying to learn," Mazzulla said. "Why I feel I've been successful is that I've got great people around me, just building great relationships and watching people grow. To me, more than winning and losing, it's about watching people grow."