Gregg Popovich Steps Down As Spurs Head Coach, Will Remain Team President

The NBA’s longest-tenured coach is walking away from the sidelines.

Gregg Popovich, who had graced the San Antonio Spurs for 29 seasons as head coach, is stepping down from the role he’s mastered since 1996.

With the context of his last six months of health concerns, this decision shouldn’t come as a shock.

Popovich, 76, suffered a mild stroke in early November just five games into the regular season. During his recovery, Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson was named interim head coach and finished the season with a 34-48 record, a 12-win improvement from the previous year.

Throughout the year, updates sprinkled in of Popovich progressing and remaining hopeful for a return to the Spurs’ bench next season. However, he had another medical incident on April 15, in which he reportedly fainted at a local restaurant.

The writing was on the wall for this move – eventually. Still, with Popovich being such a Mount Rushmore figure in the NBA universe, it’s one of those events people had to see before they believed.

Since taking over in 1996, Popovich won 1,393 regular season games leading up to his absence in November. He surpassed Don Nelson for the most wins in regular season history on March 11, 2022.

San Antonio announced that Popovich will transition to President of Basketball Operations, maintaining his prominent voice in the front office and the decision-making power he’s thrived with for decades.

“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said in joint statement with the team. “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.”

Spurs owner Peter J. Holt also went on the record, recognizing Popovich for one of the most iconic careers in professional sports history.

Coach Pop’s extraordinary impact on our family, San Antonio, the Spurs and the game of basketball is profound,” Holt said. “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.”

In July 2023, Popovich signed a new five-year deal with the franchise, but it didn’t specify if that was for a coaching role. He has always worn multiple hats with the Spurs, and I even wrote at the time it could make sense for Popovich to step away from the coaching responsibilities while also carrying out his front office duties on the same contract.

Considering how much of a grind NBA travel is on players and staff members – often arriving in a city at 2:00 in the morning before having to prepare for a game the next day – it probably wasn’t the type of job Popovich could manage at this stage of his career.

The franchise also wasted no time Friday before naming a new head coach.

Johnson, who earned the respect of his players and peers over the last few months on the job, was officially announced as the Spurs’ head coach just one hour after the Popovich news dropped.

It was a classy move by the organization, not allowing online speculation or rumors about who could be potential candidates for the opening. Because in reality, there was no opening.

“We are thrilled for Mitch Johnson to be our next head coach,” Holt added. “Throughout his decade in the organization, we have seen that Mitch has the right values, poise, and potential to lead us into the future.”

Johnson has been with the franchise since 2016, when he became an assistant for the Austin Spurs, the team’s G-League affiliate. After helping Austin win a G-League championship, he moved up to the San Antonio Spurs’ bench in September 2019. Over the last few years, any time Popovich had to miss a game because of an illness, Johnson stepped in and assumed those duties.

There are countless reasons the NBA community will miss having Popovich on the Spurs’ bench. His wittiness – accompanied by the sarcasm that always kept reporters on their toes – was a unique trait of Popovich’s that other coaches couldn’t seem to replicate.

His brilliance as a play designer helped influence dozens of current head coaches, and he was always willing to share his expertise with his peers around the league. Those who formed a close relationship with him will always have stories highlighting his generosity and how much he believed in the idea of the NBA being a close-knit fraternity.

Not to mention, you simply won’t find another coach in professional sports that was so comfortable speaking out regarding important world issues, calling out prominent U.S. leaders, and using his platform to take a stance for what he deemed right.

If there was one thing Popovich wasn’t going to tolerate during his coaching career, it was conformism. He never had a problem inciting change. A primary example of that was hiring Becky Hammon as an assistant coach in 2014, which made Hammon the first woman to hold a full-time coaching position in NBA history.

As an NBA culture-setter, there is nobody who matches the standard Popovich set. That’s before you even get to the accolades and achievements.

Under Popovich’s coaching, the franchise won five championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014) while reaching the NBA Finals six times and making the playoffs in 22 of the 28 seasons he was the full-time coach.

His playoff record of 170-114 (.599) is prestine. He finishes his career just one playoff win behind Pat Riley for second all-time. Phil Jackson remains first with 229 postseason victories.

Then, the most legendary stat of all: For 20 consecutive seasons, Popovich led the Spurs to 50-win seasons. Even during the lockout years, when the schedule was shortened, they played at a 50-win pace.

Twenty straight years. Try to comprehend how difficult it is to maintain that streak.

For context, the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves only have five such seasons in their franchise’s history. The LA Clippers have nine.

In some ways, it’s almost criminal Pop only has three Coach of the Year awards.

The Spurs have been the model of consistency and excellence in the NBA. It was an identity built from the top down. While other franchises had to press the reset button multiple times, Pop and the Spurs simply retooled their rosters and kept winning. There were 303 coaching changes across the league since Popovich took over for the Spurs in 1996.

Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat is now the NBA’s longest-tenured head coach, followed by Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors.

Only time will tell how this new chapter of the San Antonio Spurs will unfold. The most important piece of news is that Popovich believes he’s healthy enough to continue having a major voice in basketball operations, which he still holds a passion for.