Gregg Charles Popovich is an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the
National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. Taking over as coach of the Spurs in
1996, Popovich is the longest tenured active coach in both the NBA and all Big Four sports
leagues. He is often referred to as "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop". He has won five NBA
championships as the head coach of the Spurs. He also has the most consecutive winning seasons
of any NBA coach, at 17. Popovich is one of only five coaches in NBA history to win five
or more NBA championships. Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, Pat Riley, and John Kundla are the
other coaches.
Early life and education Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana
on January 28, 1949, to a Serbian father and Croatian mother. He started his basketball
career playing Biddy Basketball and was on the 1960 Gary Biddy Basketball All-Star Team
which finished third in the World Tournament, held at Gary's Memorial Auditorium. He attended
Merrillville High School and graduated in 1970 from the United States Air Force Academy.
He played basketball for four seasons at the Academy and in his senior year was the team
captain and the leading scorer. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Soviet Studies,
and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. At one point, Popovich
considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Popovich served five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, during
which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces Basketball
Team. In 1972, he was selected as captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the Amateur
Athletic Union championship. This earned him an invitation to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball
Team trials. Popovich returned to the Air Force Academy
as an assistant coach in 1973 under head coach Hank Egan, a position he held for six years.
Egan would later become an assistant coach under Popovich for the San Antonio Spurs,
and later an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers under Mike Brown.
During his time with the coaching staff of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Popovich attended
the University of Denver and earned his master's degree in physical education and sports sciences.
In 1979, he was named the head basketball coach of Pomona-Pitzer's men's team. Popovich
coached Pomona-Pitzer men's basketball from 1979 to 1988, leading the team to its first
outright title in 68 years. During his time as head coach at Pomona-Pitzer,
Popovich became a disciple and later a close friend of head coach Larry Brown at the University
of Kansas. Popovich took off the 1985–1986 season at Pomona-Pitzer to become a volunteer
assistant at Kansas, where he could study directly under Brown. Popovich returned to
Pomona-Pitzer and resumed his duties as head coach the next season.
On April 4, 2008, Popovich returned to the U.S. Air Force Academy to receive the Academy's
award of Distinguished Graduate. Despite his four NBA titles at the time, Popovich said
it was the most meaningful award he had ever received.
Career Following the 1987–88 season, Popovich joined
Larry Brown as the lead assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. From 1988 to 1992,
Popovich was the top assistant under Brown, before the entire staff was fired by owner
Red McCombs. Popovich moved to the Golden State Warriors for a brief stint in 1992,
serving as an assistant under future Hall of Famer Don Nelson and bringing with him
Avery Johnson, who had been cut by the Spurs. San Antonio
In 1994, Popovich returned to San Antonio as the general manager and Vice President
of Basketball Operations after current owner Peter Holt purchased the team. Popovich's
first move was to sign Avery Johnson to become the team's starting point guard. The two won
an NBA title together in 1999. Another one of Popovich's early moves in San
Antonio was to trade Dennis Rodman to the Chicago Bulls for Will Perdue. Rodman was
not fond of Popovich, as he said in his first book Bad As I Wanna Be.
After the Spurs got out to a 3-15 start in the 1996-97 season, with David Robinson sidelined
with a preseason back injury, Popovich fired coach Bob Hill and named himself head coach.
However, Robinson broke his foot after only six games and was lost for the season. Sean
Elliott was also limited to 39 games due to injury, and Chuck Person and Vinny Del Negro
also missed significant time. With a decimated roster, the Spurs were a rudderless team,
and won only 17 games for the remainder of the season for an overall record of 20-62.
However, the Spurs' disastrous season allowed them to win the first overall pick in the
NBA Lottery, which they used to draft Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest University. The
Spurs blossomed as Duncan teamed up with the 7'1" David Robinson to give them a "Twin Tower"
offense and defense for several years. After recovering to win 56 games in Duncan's rookie
year—and Popovich's first full year as coach—the Spurs came all the way back in 1999 to win
their first NBA title. In 2002, Popovich relinquished his position
as general manager to R. C. Buford, who had served as the team's head scout. Popovich
and Buford both got their starts in the NBA in 1988 as assistants on Brown's coaching
staff with the Spurs. Popovich has won four more championships with
the Spurs--2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. Popovich was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2003, 2012,
and in 2014. He earned his 500th career victory on March
2, 2006, becoming the fourth-fastest coach in NBA history to reach that milestone. He
led the team to a 63–19 season in 2006, which set a new franchise season record.
Popovich won his 100th playoff game on May 19, 2008, in a road game against the New Orleans
Hornets. The win tied him for third place in all-time playoff coaching victories with
his friend and mentor, Larry Brown. On May 2, 2012, Popovich won his second coach
of the year award for the 2011–12 NBA season. On November 29, 2012, Popovich sat out starters
Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Danny Green for a nationally televised game against
the Miami Heat. Popovich has frequently sat out his starters on road trips over the years
in order to ensure they have enough rest for the playoffs; the Spurs are one of the oldest
teams in the league. NBA commissioner David Stern was outraged when he learned of this,
and said on the night of the game the Spurs' actions were "unacceptable," and "substantial
sanctions [would] be forthcoming." On November 30, Stern fined the Spurs $250,000 for what
he called "a disservice to the league and the fans." According to Stern, Popovich had
not informed the Heat, the league or the media in a suitable timeframe that the four players
were not making the trip to Miami. Stern's decision was criticized by commentators such
as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who said, "Stern doesn't care about the realities
of his league, just the appearances. To him, the appearance on Thursday night was that
Popovich had tried to embarrass him on national television and that's why the commissioner
tossed that tantrum." On March 22, 2013, Popovich became the second
head coach in NBA history to win 900 regular-season games with one team when the Spurs beat the
Utah Jazz. On April 22, 2014, Popovich was awarded the
Red Auerbach Trophy as he won the NBA Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
He would also win his fifth NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs that same season.
International basketball Popovich served on the coaching staff for
the U.S. national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, the 2003 FIBA America Men's
Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the 2004 Olympic Games, where the U.S. won a bronze
medal. Head coaching record
Personal life Popovich is actively involved in several charities
and programs in San Antonio, such as the Spurs/Pizza Hut Drug Free Youth Basketball League and
the San Antonio Food Bank. He is a noted wine enthusiast. He and his wife, Erin, have two
children, Micky and Jill. Popovich is also a supporter of Vlade Divac's
"You Can Too" campaign, designed to provide shelter to former Yugoslavian and African
refugees. See also
List of NBA championship head coaches National Basketball Association portal
References
External links NBA.com profile
Profile as a coach