Barlow Steps into Maine Celtics’ Head-Coach Role After Years of Preparation

After seven-plus years of arduous work and preparation inside the Celtics’ basketball operations employees, Alex Barlow’s lifelong dream of turning into a head coach has lastly turn out to be a actuality.

On Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Ohio native was employed as the subsequent head coach for the Maine Celtics whereas his predecessor, Jarell Christian, was promoted to Director of Maine Basketball Participant Improvement.

“I’m very humbled and excited to be taking over the top teaching function in Maine,” Barlow acknowledged upon his hiring. “I’ve been in a position to develop each personally and professionally in my time in Maine. I’m trying ahead to creating this subsequent step in my profession, and I can’t wait to get the season began on the (Portland) Expo.”

For Barlow, his journey towards teaching started lengthy earlier than becoming a member of the Celtics as a video assistant in 2015. Although, it did start alongside one other eventual member of the group.

Within the fall of 2011, Barlow enrolled at Butler College, the place he walked onto a Bulldogs basketball crew that was led by a 34-year-old head coach on the rise, named Brad Stevens. Between them each, it was the beginning of a longtime mentorship, colleagueship, and friendship.

“The one purpose I went to Butler and walked on was as a result of I wished to teach,” Barlow advised Celtics.com Tuesday afternoon. “I wished to get into teaching, and I believed Brad could be somebody who it’d be nice to be part of his program and be taught from. And he was actually open about that.”

For a Division I walk-on, Barlow additionally turned out to be a fairly stable participant. A 3-year starter, the 5-foot-11 guard helped to steer Butler to 2 NCAA Event appearances. He was a Bulldog each by affiliation, and by nature, as he completed second within the Huge East in steals per sport in each his junior and senior seasons. And he even hit a game-winning shot throughout his sophomore yr to take down top-ranked Indiana.

Nevertheless, teaching was finally his calling, as was the case for a number of of his Butler friends. Ten p.c of the G League’s present head coaches have been part of that Bulldogs group within the early 2010s, together with the Oklahoma Metropolis Blue’s Kameron Woods, Barlow’s classmate and teammate of 4 years, and Birmingham Squadron’s T.J. Saint, a former graduate assistant below Stevens.

Barlow recollects that Stevens was “well-aware” of the teaching potential in his locker room and so he gave his gamers quite a lot of say in learn how to method every sport. They have been basically coaching their our bodies as gamers, whereas concurrently coaching their minds as coaches.

“In movie,” Barlow stated of Stevens’ research classes, “he’d be like, ‘Hey, what do you assume we should always do right here, guys?’ It was a approach for us to get into teaching and type of give it some thought from a coach’s angle. However he clearly has had an incredible monitor document of getting guys that he coached in faculty – and even right here when you rely Evan Turner – into teaching.”

Stevens left Butler to turn out to be the top coach for the Celtics simply earlier than the beginning of Barlow’s junior season. Nevertheless, the 2 would reunite lower than two years later in Boston.

Finally, it was Stevens’ former boss and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge who made the push to carry Barlow on board.

“When he was a senior and he was what to do subsequent,” Stevens recounted, “Danny really was the one which hung out with him, and got here again and stated, ‘Yeah, he makes lots of sense to rent as a younger coach. He’s gonna be good.’”

Barlow graduated from Butler in Could of 2015. Inside a number of weeks, he was delivery as much as Boston.  

He started as a movie assistant in early June, placing in lengthy hours scouting groups and serving to to place collectively stories on the opposition. After two years of grinding away in that function, Barlow was approached by Stevens with a brand new alternative: an assistant place on former Maine Crimson Claws head coach Brandon Bailey’s employees.

Barlow held that function in Portland for one yr earlier than rejoining the Boston squad for the 2018-19 marketing campaign. One in all his main tasks that season was serving to to develop a younger, rookie middle named Robert Williams, who, inside three years, turned an NBA All-Protection selectee.

Participant growth is Barlow’s specialty, and it’ll proceed to be certainly one of his essential focuses whereas main the Maine squad.

“I’ve grown within the NBA by way of participant growth whether or not it was right here with Rob, whether or not it’s been within the G League working the participant growth program that we’ve got within the G League, so I believe the largest focus for me is simply going to be getting guys higher,” stated Barlow. “Clearly it’s necessary to get the two-ways higher (similar to JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele), and any of the signees we rise up there, to get them higher, the exhibit 10s – anyone else that we get on the crew to attempt to get them to their subsequent cease whether or not it’s again to the NBA, or it’s a greater deal abroad.”

The previous two G League seasons have been crucial in Barlow’s personal growth. He returned to Maine in 2019-20 to turn out to be affiliate head coach below Darren Erman, a job which he maintained this previous season below Christian.

“I realized a lot from Jarell,” Barlow stated. “Plenty of it was nearly learn how to lead, learn how to be a head coach, learn how to delegate tasks. I believe as a head coach lots of instances you need to do every thing, you need to do lots, and it’s simply not possible. You simply can’t do it. You’ve received to have assistants you belief, have assistants you may give duty to, and he was so good about that, giving me tasks the place I used to be sturdy, after which the place I used to be weak, he’d coach me up. So I believe that yr with him was actually good, actually useful, and goes to assist me for my time this yr.”

As somebody who additionally turned a head coach at a younger age, Stevens is aware of that this season gained’t be with out obstacles for Barlow. Nevertheless, he has little doubt that Barlow will succeed by way of his offensive creativity, his capacity to be fast on his ft, and his preparation inside the group over the previous seven-plus years.

“There will likely be challenges that include being a head coach,” stated Stevens, “however that’s one of many stunning issues concerning the G League is you could be taught by way of your errors, proper? You possibly can be taught by way of your rising pains, and I believe that he’s as ready for that as anyone simply because he’s been up there, and he’s been with us for thus a few years and he’s had so many various assignments at each ranges.”

Barlow emphasizes the significance of sustaining synergy between the 2 ranges, noting the way it’s additionally a part of his job to “discover a function participant that may assist the (Boston) Celtics win a championship.”

“I’m clearly actually excited,” stated Barlow. “It’s one thing I’ve been trying ahead to actually since Brad pitched the thought again in 2017 when he wished me to spend a while within the G League, be taught the sport within the G League, learn to be a head coach. And I’ve clearly had three actually good head coaches that I’ve labored for in Maine which have type of given me alternatives and type of helped to get me to the place I’m.”

Having additionally performed an immense function in getting Barlow to the place he’s at, Stevens is worked up to see his former pupil succeed. He’s seen first-hand how arduous Barlow has labored for this chance because the day he walked into Butler’s gymnasium greater than a decade in the past.

“He’s a man that’s all the time wished to teach and has put lots of time into actually understanding the NBA sport, the G League sport, the way in which that the 2 must be linked, that it’s a wonderful expertise for all and in order that it’s a wonderful seamless transition for anyone that goes as much as Maine and comes again,” Stevens stated.

“So I believe he’ll do an incredible job. He actually has ready for this.”