Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla delivers ’tough’ message after Jim Montgomery firing

By Zachary Roberts

Modified Nov 20, 2024 13:28 GMT

Jim Montgomery was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Boston Bruins. The team is off to a rough start at 8-9-3. One year after finishing one point behind the eventual Stanley Cup winners, the Bruins are barely clinging to fourth place in the Atlantic Division.

After Montgomery was fired, Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazulla was asked about his city counterpart.

Mazulla, who is known for his interesting and sometimes unorthodox quotes, had this to say:

“I talked to him a couple of times. It’s tough. I talked to him a few times and I liked watching the games, but I didn’t really dive deep into his coaching philosophy or stuff like that. Hate to see a coach have to go through that, but we all get hired to get fired.”

The Bruins named Joe Sacco their interim head coach. He is in his 11th year with the team and will take over for Montgomery in the wake of the firing.

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Bruins GM bids goodbye to Jim Montgomery while highlighting team's struggles

The Boston Bruins decided to move on from Jim Montgomery just two seasons after a historic year. GM Don Sweeney said this was "a difficult decision" for the team to make.

Jim Montgomery was fired by the Bruins (Imagn)

He added in a statement via ESPN:

"Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person. He has made a positive impact throughout the Bruins organization, and I am both grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to work with him and learn from him."

Management was reportedly hesitant to move on from the coach because he has a great reputation and they didn't want to let players off the hook for playing poorly, but a move had to be made.

Sweeney continued:

"Our team's inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans. I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success."

The GM vowed to make the necessary adjustments to live up to the expectations that Bruins fans have for them every year.