Gregg Popovich has stepped down as head coach of the Spurs and will become president of basketball operations on a full-time basis, the team announced in a press release.
Popovich is the winningest head coach in NBA history with 1,422 regular season victories, and he captured five championships during nearly three decades on San Antonio’s bench. He was named Coach of the Year three times and was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2023.
“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said. “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 suffered a stroke in early November and never returned to the bench, with the team announcing in February that he was done for the season. He made progress in his recovery and was able to meet with his players, but he had to be briefly hospitalized again last month after a medical incident at a restaurant.
Popovich joined the organization in 1988 as an assistant coach and has been part of the Spurs’ front office since May of 1994. Sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN that Popovich has remained active in that role throughout his medical issues and “will continue to be a vital member of the franchise’s day-to-day operations.”
Charania’s sources add that Popovich had been in the team’s facility recently and still had a desire to return to coaching. Ultimately, he decided that the day-to-day grind of being a head coach would be too difficult.
“Coach Pop’s extraordinary impact on our family, San Antonio, the Spurs and the game of basketball is profound,” managing partner Peter J. Holt said in the Spurs’ press release. “His accolades and awards don’t do justice to the impact he has had on so many people. He is truly one-of-one as a person, leader and coach. Our entire family, alongside fans from across the globe, are grateful for his remarkable 29-year run as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.”
The best there ever was.
Came up through the ranks the hard way. College coach, NBA assistant, then stayed loyal to the team that was loyal to him.
A career path of success and done the right way. Bravo.
Not to pee in your cornflakes but the Spurs named him GM, he then fired the coach and named himself coach.. that’s how he got his job. Basically the opposite of loyalty lol
Who cares? Pop was legit the best HC of all-time and he knew it. All that matters.
Davey got one right! I’m not sure “he knew it.” Pop seemed pretty down to earth to me. But you’re right, finally. Best coach to ever do it.
Even though Davey’s right about Pop being the best, he still had to qualify with by saying something about how Pop knew he was the best. Dude was the coolest customer around, he wasnt wasting time thinking about how great he was. Davey dis’s even inside his compliments. Haters are always haters.
I get most of everything right, high 80% at worst – you just hate it when its your fave team because you’re a 2 IQ homer fan with no analysis skills.
Skill issue.
Skill issue? lol, that’s cute.
Get it right please ……. It takes seconds to get facts. Literally …..
“Gregg Popovich was a Spurs assistant coach and later a coach after he was also the team’s general manager. He served as an assistant coach from 1988-92, then became the team’s general manager in 1994. After firing then-coach Bob Hill, he took over as head coach in December 1996. “
He was there before Hill the fired coach. Then had the best run and most loyal run ever. For an organization. He made sure Spurs got right. He gave Spurs everything they are today. Changed the game by bringing in foreign talent.
link to en.wikipedia.org
You tell me to “get it right” then just write a long form version of exactly what I said? lol… not sure how being an AC before what I said changes any context of it?
Reading comprehension try it.
Being there before Hill ….. means what to you. You need me to write why he was made GM too.
“Spurs named him GM, he then fired the coach and named himself coach.. that’s how he got his job. Basically the opposite of loyalty lol”
The Spurs brought him back to be GM. Then he fixed what needed fixing. Not looking outside the organization for help. Yet this is the opposite of loyalty lol to you. He got his job cause Hill wasn’t doing his. Then he owned it for 30 yrs. You need more explaining????? Let me know
I’m still waiting for you tell me how I got anything I said wrong considering you said “get it right”….. please point to what I said wrong…? Giving context (ahem excuses) changed the literal facts how? lol
hahaha
jeremyn, I guess by loyal, I mean he didn’t jump from team to team.
He stuck it out with the Spurs forever and ever and they stuck with him forever and ever.
Winning helps, but he could’ve been like Larry Brown style winning. So I think he was loyal to the Spurs. Hope that makes sense.
by sustaining winning long enough, he was able to not to be chopped like most coaches… Erik Spoelstra has done that as well. Coaching x’s and o’s wise.. I think pop is on the level of a Don Nelson or Rick Carlisle…. and that’s not an insult in any way… his players loved him… but when he faced adversity, the Spurs usually faltered …. I write that thinking he’s a great man generally
for context on what I said above.. the Spurs were 3-4 under Popp in game 7’s during his time as HC
Red # 1
Red was amazing but he had an All-Star team in an eight team league.
But yeah, taking nothing away from red and you’re not wrong to say he’s #1
Not clear cut, but he’s the GOAT in my eyes. I think if you asked all the players that ever played, assuming they knew all the coaches, more would have wanted to play for him than Phil or Red. No way to know this of course…. Just a feeling. A legendary figure, it’s a sad day.
This is EXACTLY what he is, Gary. Exactly. ” … done the right way.” “The best there ever was.”
WOW!
Jackson and Auerbach have more rings and I hate comparing eras but Popovich was the best to ever do it.
Right on, Chucktoad1. Thanks for 2003, 2005 (awesome Finals), 2007, and especially the 2014 revenge tour – who knows, you guys may not have done it as emphatically, Pop, if it weren’t for you removing Timmy in those final fateful seconds of regulation – Game 6, 2013. I’ll take you over Phil and Red any day of the week.
Good for him. He will always be known as one of the best coaches ever.
One of the best cia agent/coach combos we’ve ever seen
Very wise decision. He is already a hof coach, he needs to have as little stress with those health conditions. The organization will still have him around.
Legend
One of the great, if not the greatest coach in NBA history. Definitely the best relationship builder with his players.
Sad that he’s wrapping up his coaching career, but it was a joy watching it and also the right time to move on.
Great Coach. One of the best. It was time. Stay Healthy
Rings matter, 11 is 11 at the end of the day. That being said Pop definitely is up there with Red, Riley and Phil. Great coach and doesn’t need the additional stress anymore. Wish Craig Sager was around to take that interview with him.
Phil had the results and he was an excellent handler of personalities.
But I think much of the coaching credit should go to Tex Winter and Johnny Bach. They ran the offense and the defense respectively.
11 rings means he’s number one and you’re not wrong. Just my two cents.
I get it, but isn’t the objective as a head coach in any professional sport is to win titles? There’s a reason why Belicheck won all those SB’s. He had great offensive/defensive coaches as well. Same with Andy Reid, etc. In the end you need to win the title, or you become Jerry Sloan or Don Nelson.
Love the Craig Sager reference !! Rest in peace.
how’d Phil do without 3 all-time HOFers on his roster at all times? Oh wait… he quit when that didn’t happen didn’t he? 3 times in fact right?
Quit?? Lol he got exiled from Chicago by Krause dude. Get your facts straight. Krause said he could go 82-0 and he wouldn’t “freaking” come back. How did Pop do without Duncan/Ginobili/Kawhi/Parker?
OH and Pop coached Duncan/Manu who are HOF along with Admiral and Parker/Kawhi soon to be HOF. Lol you need HOF to win multiple titles, everyone knows this. Daly won with Zeke and Dumars and Rodman. Riley with KAJ/Magic/Worthy. Phil wasn’t the first with HOF. Stop that non-sense, just because you have HOF doesn’t mean you win titles. Ask Jerry Sloan who had 2 HOF’s but 0 titles.
SMH
Um… Phil was offered a contract a billion times during that last year… no one wanted to deal with Krause.. that was the issue.. and yes… he quit, he quit again in 2005.. and again in 2011.. when he knew the “window” was closed.. he left
That’s nice.
It was long time, but he is the GOAT head coach. Not many better!
Thank You Pops ….. you helped the NBA expand globally. And made it better. You proved a small market team can be Big Time …..
Thank you for teaching us the game. You are the best I ever seen. God Speed Pops ……
What an incredible career. It’s a shame it doesn’t end on his terms how he would’ve wanted, but glad he is smart enough to step aside for health. The best NBA coach ever in my opinion.
Already made a lengthy comment on reddit in tribute of Pop, so I’ll just say the GOAT’s going to be sorely missed. A true leader and good man who always made the game bigger than basketball. The NBA won’t be quite the same without him, but I’m glad he’s still with us and will hopefully be for years to come.
I hope he’s healthy enough to have a long and happy post bball life. Best coach in the history of the league, with all due respect given to Phil and Red.
lol
Long overdue. He was basically Stan Van Gundy without Duncan.
Is being a deuce bag fun for you?
A what?
Not only one of the greatest coaches ever, all sports considered, but his complete deadpan style of giving interviews and in-game comments was often subtly hilarious. One of my favorite answers ever… Beginning of the 4th quarter (I don’t remember the opponent) down by 12, and the reporter asked, “What do you have to do to win this game?”
Pops, as always completely deadpan, replied, “I’d say we need to outscore them by at least 13 points…”
Wow, Pop gets lots of love here. I’m a bit surprised, but perhaps I shouldn’t be. His teams have won a bunch.
I assume that most here don’t know his basketball background, and that’s probably just as well. Anyway, if he’s the best HC of all time, then it’s a serious indictment of both the coaching profession and the basketball establishment as a whole. Also, a testament to the role of timing and good fortune in determining outcomes. Lots of achievers have humble beginnings, but it’s exceedingly rare for those to extend over 25 years into a career. What if Larry Brown didn’t need a notetaker? FWIW, I think was a better FO chief than HC. Although I’m not a fan of Tanking, its become a big thing, and he did author it in its original form.
What if Phil Jackson had never met Tex Winter? What if Magic Johnson had liked Paul Westhead? What if Red Auerbach hadn’t coached in a 11 team league with a stacked team? What if Steve Kerr hasn’t played under two of the greatest coaches ever?
It is extremely rare for timing and good fortune to extend over 25 years, especially combined with 18 consecutive seasons of winning 50 or more games and 22 consecutive trips to the playoffs. Some would say it would be almost impossible. Maybe, just maybe Popovich had something to do with as to why the Spurs had that run?
Each of these situations is different, and I didn’t comment on the other guys you’ve mentioned, so don’t assume that I worship at any of their alters either. But none of those guys were in mid-career and stuck coaching a losing Division III team going on 7-8 years. He was looking, and unwanted, despite the Air Force job opening up. In YOUR profession, do the best people (let alone the “best ever”) really get relegated to the scrap heap like that? Forced to take an unpaid position in their mid-40’s that was really meant for a kid. I doubt there are many such professions, and I have enough experience with college coaching searches to know that the coaching profession is one where that would never happen (absent off the court behavior that would likely have to be criminal). Good coaches can’t hide.
Yes, all HC’s need elite talent to win, but that doesn’t mean that some HC’s didn’t benefit more than others. Pop’s initial roster (after the Tanking year) was an historical outlier. The team won 62 and 59 games the prior two years with Robinson (and no Duncan). I can’t think of another HC handed a roster like that in his first full season, you? It had not only talent, it was an established 60-ish win team, and with Robinson and Duncan (perhaps the two most coachable superstars ever), it came complete with character and team culture (in a box, no assembly requird).
I never said that Pop had nothing to do as to why the SAS had their long run. Do you need for me to have said that for you to have a point? Anyway, as I indicated, I think Pop did a very good job on the FO end. Great understanding of the international talent market. His HC performance, while mixed, had positives as well. The team underachieved for his first 5 seasons (winning only once, during the strike year and losing 4-0, and 4-1, in back to back years, to the only team that could match them talent-wise in the league), and its notable that almost any HC that didn’t employ himself would not have survived that. But, after that period, he did mature as a HC and was a consequential factor in maintaining their strong culture. His high point was against the MIA teams, when he actually had less talent than his opponent for the first time in his career.
Pop had a great and interesting career, and will be worthy of the HOF when his time comes. But calling him the greatest HC ever is lazy and honestly an insult to the profession of coaching.
Guy got lucky after a tank year and the balls bounced in his favor to draft duncan at #1. Surely this can’t happen again to him?
I doubt he’d have number of rings and success if the spurs ended up with keith van horn. Good coach, sure, the goat, nope.
Absurd argument. I’m sure Phil would have 11 rings without MJ, Shaq, and Kobe. Red would have found a way I’m sure without Russell. So foolish.
That is dumb. Can’t be the greatest coach without great players. The coach can’t play.
even though I’ve said he’s not the “GOAT” coach in this post… I do respect tf out of Popp… my best memory of him was after the 2013 NBA Finals… the only time he lost a finals…. Rather than walk off like others have.. rather than throw a tantrum and mock honor the winning team (looking at you Mark Cuban)… rather than act like the Pistons in 1990…. he stood there on the court saluting the Miami Heat after one of the greatest NBA Finals of all time (Ray Allen Shot)… He spent the next hour (yes HOUR, literally until the stage was fully set up on the court) going up to every single member of the Miami Heat.. player, coach, staff, FO, family member, giving them hugs and congratulations. It’s something I’ve never seen before.. and will probably never see again. That will always stand out in my mind and be what I remember him for most. That, and trolling Shaq by fouling him 3 seconds into a game lol
Excellent comment Jeremy !!