Running it back

Phil Pressey is excited to return for a second season as Head Coach

Evans Boston /October 22, 2026

The Maine Celtics have been a revolving door of great, young head coaches. It seems as though each year brings a new leader for the team in addition to a new crop of developing young players. Darren Erman, Jarell Christian, Alex Barlow, Blaine Mueller, Tyler Lashbrook. All have led Maine to successful seasons – all have moved on to bigger and better things after just one season in Portland.

That changes this year.

For the first time since the 2018-19 season, Maine will have a returning head coach – Phil Pressey is back for a second season at the helm of the Maine Celtics, and he can’t wait to get things started.

“It’s another opportunity to grow as a coach” Pressey said. “I think it’s important for myself to grow my career and get as many real reps, whether it be on the front of the bench as the head coach, or learning the defensive side, or offensively learning how to install the offense. For right now, being where my feet are as a head coach in Maine? I’m super excited.”

Celtics fans are excited to have Pressey back. In his head coaching debut at age 34, Pressey guided Maine to a winning season and fourth consecutive playoff appearance, falling to eventual NBA G League champion Greensboro.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to win the championship which was our team’s big goal,” he said. “But by developing the players and developing the staff, winning was a byproduct of that. We lost to Greensboro, so in my eyes, we lost to the champion so that wasn’t a bad loss.”

Developing players was certainly a success story from one season ago – Maine saw three players – Wendell Moore Jr., Tosan Evbuomwan, and Hayden Gray – all earn NBA Call-Ups. All three Two-Way Players – Ron Harper Jr., Max Shulga, and Amari Williams – all were converted to standard NBA deals over the course of the season. Pressey takes pride in the development of his coaching staff as well.

“That’s our North Star – making sure everyone is developed, including our staff,” Pressey said. “A lot of the coaches are younger in their careers. They’re trying to make it. they’re trying to make something of themselves. I think that was something I was able to do last year. Our goal here is to of course develop the players and make sure they’re moving up, which we did, but also the coaches need to develop as well.”

For Pressey, there’s one thing about Maine that makes this franchise stand out from the rest of the G League – the Portland Expo.

“I’m excited to go out there and battle with the team. But being able to play in front of the home crowd here is special,” he said. “Portland does a phenomenal job of showing up – rain, sleet, or snow, they’re always there. I can’t wait to get as many wins as we can in front of the Expo crowd.”