Joe Mazzulla will likely become the interim head coach of the Boston Celtics for the 2022 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

FILE – Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka reacts during the fourth quarter of Game 6 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Boston. The Boston Celtics are planning to discipline coach Ime Udoka, likely with a suspension, because of an improper relationship with a member of the organization, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

The NBA insider reported a bombshell on Thursday, reporting that Celtics head coach Ime Udoka could face a season-long suspension because of an “intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise’s staff.” That relationship, Wojnarowski reports, is considered a violation of the Celtics’ guidelines.

Mazzulla, a former star player at West Virginia under Bob Huggins and John Beilein, is up for the job after Will Hardy, Boston’s top assistant coach in 2021-22, was hired as the head coach of the Utah Jazz.

Without a suspension, Udoka would enter his second season as the Celtics’ coach after taking the helm in the summer of 2021. He led the team to the NBA Finals in one of the biggest reversals after the Celtics’ catastrophic start to the campaign.

Mazzulla joined the Celtics’ bench in 2019 after coaching Fairmont State for two seasons. He coached the Celtics in the 2021 NBA Summer League, leading the team to the Summer League Championship.

The Johnston, Rhode Island native played five seasons (included a truncated junior campaign with a medical redshirt) for West Virginia. He scored 700 points, dished 370 assists and grabbed 345 rebounds in 145 games as a Mountaineer.