The Maine Celtics, formerly known as the Maine Red Claws, has announced that the team has hired a new head coach.
Jarell Christian, a former NBA assistant coach, will be the seventh head coach in the NBA G League team’s history, according to Evans Boston, the Maine Celtic’s senior director of public and community relations.
Christian will replace Darren Erman, who served as head coach through the 2019-20 season.
Christian played basketball for Emory and Henry College and, after graduating in 2009, landed his first coaching positions as an assistant coach at Tusculum College, Emory and Henry and Randolph-Macon College.
From 2014 to 2018, Christian worked as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma Blue. After a short time working as the head coach for the Washington Wizards G League affiliate team, the Capital City Go-Go, he became an assistant NBA coach in Washington.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to lead the Maine Celtics and be a part of an organization with such great tradition and purpose,” Christian said. “I look forward to working with [Brad Stevens] and [Ime Udoka] to provide the players and staff an environment in which they can thrive. My family and I are ecstatic and can’t wait to get started in Portland.”
The Maine Celtics will play the first game of the 2021-22 season on Nov. 12 at the Portland Expo.
