Gregg Popovich amassed 1,388 wins as coach of the Spurs.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will move from his role as coach to become the team’s president, the team announced Friday.
“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said in a statement released by 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.”
The NBA’s all-time winningest coach, Popovich won five NBA championships with San Antonio and is a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member. He left the team on Nov. 2 after suffering a stroke at the team’s arena and had been away from the team since. In February, the team announced he would not return to the team this season.
Coach Pop transitions to Spurs President of Basketball Operations pic.twitter.com/q8HwqDTB53
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 2, 2025
Popovich agreed to a five-year contract extension with the team in 2023, which would have kept him on the sidelines through the 2027-28 season. His career coaching record was 1,388-824 when he had the stroke.
No coach had been with one team for more games than Popovich, who has led the Spurs to five NBA championships and guided USA Basketball to an Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Popovich is one of only three coaches to win the NBA Coach of the Year award three times, Don Nelson and Pat Riley being the others. He’s one of five coaches with at least five NBA titles: Phil Jackson (11), Red Auerbach (nine), John Kundla (five) and Riley (five).
Popovich has been with the Spurs for nearly 35 years. He was an assistant coach from 1988-92, then returned to the club on May 31, 1994, as its executive vice president for basketball operations and general manager. He fired coach Bob Hill and appointed himself coach on Dec. 10, 1996.
Before moving to the NBA, Popovich spent 15 seasons in the collegiate ranks, working as an assistant coach on Hank Egan’s staff at the United States Air Force Academy, from 1973-79, before serving as the coach for the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges from 1979-88.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
