Pop steps down after 29 years with Spurs
Gregg Popovich stepped down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, ending a three-decade run that saw him lead the team to five NBA championships, become the league’s all-time wins leader and earn induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said.
He will remain as team president, with Mitch Johnson, a Spurs assistant who filled in for Popovich for the season’s final 77 games, becoming the team’s head coach.
Popovich, 76, missed all but five games this season after having a stroke at the team’s arena on Nov. 2. He has not spoken publicly since, though had addressed his team at least once and released a statement in late March saying that he hoped to return to coaching.
That won’t be happening.
“I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me,” Popovich said.
Popovich’s career ends with a record of 1,422-869, which includes the 77 games—32 wins and 45 losses—that were coached by Johnson this season. He also won 170 playoff games with the Spurs, the most by any coach with one team and the third-most overall behind Phil Jackson’s 229 and Pat Riley’s 171.
“The best there ever was,” Spurs great Manu Ginobili said last year of Popovich.
Popovich was a three-time coach of the year, led the United States to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and coached six Hall of Famers in San Antonio—Ginobili, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Dominique Wilkins and Pau Gasol. He went up against 170 coaches in the NBA and there have been 303 coaching changes made in the league, including interim moves, during the Popovich era.
“I’ve got a video on my phone that’s, like, priceless,” said Chris Paul, who played for the Spurs this season—going there, in large part, because of the lure of playing for Popovich. “It was us in Oklahoma City, before shootaround, and Pop is doing ballhandling stuff. All these years I’ve always seen Pop coaching in a suit, but I didn’t know how hard of a worker he was when it comes to training.”
