Gregg Popovich
(born January 28, 1949 in East Chicago, Indiana) is the head coach of the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. He is often referred to, by players, media, and fans, as "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop." [1] [2]
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GREG POPOVICH TICKETS
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From Indiana to the Air Force Academy
Popovich, whose father was of Serbian descent,
[3] 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 his
bachelors degree in
Soviet Studies, and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. He even considered a career with the
Central Intelligence Agency.
[4]
Popovich next served his required five years of 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 the Captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) 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 he is currently 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
Masters Degree in
Physical Education and Sports Sciences. In 1979, he was named the head basketball coach of
Pomona-Pitzer's men's team.
During his time as head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, Popovich became a disciple and eventually a close friend of the
University of Kansas head coach
Larry Brown. Popovich would eventually decide to take off the 1985-1986 season at Pomona-Pitzer to become a volunteer assistant at the
University of 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 Air Force Academy. He was bestowed the Academy's award of Distinguished Graduate. Popovich said that the award possibly was the most meaningful he has received, which includes four
NBA titles.
[5]
From D3 to the NBA
Following the 1987-1988 season, Popovich joined
Larry Brown as the lead assistant coach for the
San Antonio Spurs. Popovich was even the best man in Brown's wedding in 1990, and the two would later coach against each other in the
2005 NBA Finals, with Brown coaching the
Detroit Pistons. Popovich and the Spurs prevailed.
From 1988 to 1992, Popovich was the top assistant under Brown, before the entire staff [including
R.C. Buford and
Ed Manning was fired by owner
Red McCombs. Popovich moved to the
Golden State Warriors for a brief stint in 1992, serving as an assistant under
Don Nelson and bringing with him
Avery Johnson, who had been cut by the Spurs.
Back to San Antonio
In 1994, he returned to San Antonio as the General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations after a new ownership group had purchased the team. Popovich's first move was to sign Johnson to become the team's starting
point guard. The two won an NBA title together in 1999, and Johnson, later head coach of the
Dallas Mavericks, credits Popovich as being his biggest coaching influence.
Another one of Popovich's early moves in
San Antonio was to trade
Dennis Rodman to the
Chicago Bulls for
Will Perdue.
Criticism
Controversy surrounded Popovich during the 1996-97 NBA season, when he fired Spurs head coach
Bob Hill in mid-season, naming himself as Hill's replacement. Popovich's record that year as an interim coach for the Spurs was 17-47.
Popovich was highly criticized by Kevin O'Keefe, a columnist for the
San Antonio Express-News
, following his decision to fire Hill. The Spurs won 122 games in Hill's first two years as head coach of the Spurs. Hill's 3-16 start in 1996 had more to do with injuries to David Robinson, Sean Elliott, Chuck Person, and Vinnie Del Negro. O'Keefe resigned from the
San Antonio Express-News
in 1999, just months before the Spurs won their first NBA title.
Bob Hill also became a vocal critic of Popovich for the firing. Hill tried and failed to land several NBA coaching jobs before taking over at
Fordham University from 1999-2002. The school fired him after suffering its worst season in 7 years. Hill joined the
Seattle SuperSonics as an assistant coach in 2005 and replaced the fired
Bob Weiss midway through that same season. He coached the Sonics in 2006-07 before being fired after compiling a 55-81 record.
Popovich over the years has gained a reputation as a surly interviewee and a testy dealer with the media. In a 2007 interview with
Craig Sager of TNT, Popovich ignored a question by Sager regarding a current game and outwardly questioned Sager's professionalism. In various in-game interviews, Popovich has been known for giving extremely short and sarcastic answers, as well as appropriately simplistic responses to reporters' obvious questions.
Building a dynasty
Following the 1996-1997
NBA season, the Spurs won the first overall pick in the
NBA Lottery and drafted
Tim Duncan out of the
Wake Forest University.
The Spurs blossomed as Duncan teamed up with the 7' 1"
David Robinson to give the Spurs a "Twin Tower" offense and defense for several years. Popovich would lead the Spurs to four NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007).
In 2002, Popovich relinquished his position as the 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 Larry Brown's coaching staff with the Spurs.
Popovich is known around the league for his expressive coaching style. "Pop" (as he is affectionately known to Spurs personnel and fans), is the most decorated coach in Spurs history, having led the team to their
first championship in 1999, and to repeat performances in the
2003 NBA Finals, in
2005, and in 2007.
Popovich received the honor of the
NBA Coach of the Year Award in 2003, after leading the Spurs
into
the
playoffs, en route to another championship. He also 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. Because of his success in San Antonio, Popovich is now considered by some people to be a likely candidate for the
Basketball Hall of Fame.
Popovich has also represented the USA in international play, serving on the coaching staff for the
US national team in the
2002 FIBA World Championship (assisting
George Karl)
[6], the 2003
FIBA America Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and the
2004 Olympic Games.
Popovich won his 600th game as coach of the Spurs on January 12, 2007, with a win over the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
Popovich won his 100th playoff game on May 19, 2008, on the
New Orleans Hornets home court. The win tied him for third place in all-time coaching victories with his friend and mentor,
Larry Brown.
Coaching record
| Legend
|
| Regular season
| G
| Games coached
| W
| Games won
| L
| Games lost
|
| Post season
| PG
| Games coached
| PW
| Games won
| PL
| Games lost
|
| Team
| Year
| G
| W
| L
| W–L%
| Finish
| PG
| PW
| PL
| Result
|
| SAS
| 1996–97
| 64
| 17
| 47
| .266
| 6th in Midwest
| —
| —
| —
| Missed Playoffs
|
| SAS
| 1997–98
| 82
| 56
| 26
| .683
| 2nd in Midwest
| 9
| 4
| 5
| Lost in Conf. Semifinals
|
| SAS
| 1998–99
| 50
| 37
| 13
| .740
| 1st in Midwest
| 17
| 15
| 2
| Won NBA Championship
|
| SAS
| 1999–00
| 82
| 53
| 29
| .646
| 2nd in Midwest
| 4
| 1
| 3
| Lost in First Round
|
| SAS
| 2000–01
| 82
| 58
| 24
| .707
| 1st in Midwest
| 13
| 7
| 6
| Lost in Conf. Finals
|
| SAS
| 2001–02
| 82
| 58
| 24
| .707
| 1st in Midwest
| 10
| 4
| 6
| Lost in Conf. Semifinals
|
| SAS
| 2002–03
| 82
| 60
| 22
| .732
| 1st in Midwest
| 24
| 16
| 8
| Won NBA Championship
|
| SAS
| 2003–04
| 82
| 57
| 25
| .695
| 2nd in Midwest
| 10
| 6
| 4
| Lost in Conf. Semifinals
|
| SAS
| 2004–05
| 82
| 59
| 23
| .720
| 1st in Southwest
| 23
| 16
| 7
| Won NBA Championship
|
| SAS
| 2005–06
| 82
| 63
| 19
| .768
| 1st in Southwest
| 13
| 7
| 6
| Lost in Conf. Semifinals
|
| SAS
| 2006–07
| 82
| 58
| 24
| .707
| 2nd in Southwest
| 20
| 16
| 4
| Won NBA Championship
|
| SAS
| 2007–08
| 82
| 56
| 26
| .683
| 2nd in Southwest
| 17
| 9
| 8
| Lost in Conf. Finals
|
| SAS
| 2008–09
| 82
| 54
| 28
| .659
| 1st in Southwest
| 5
| 1
| 4
| Lost in First Round
|
| Career
|
| 1016
| 686
| 330
| .675
|
| 165
| 102
| 63
|
Off the court
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 has also been recognized as a noted wine enthusiast. He and his wife of 29 years, 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.
References
- French connection
- Devin Brown And Coach Pop Spread Message To Local Youth
- http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3286552
- Popovich is a man of mystery. National Post, June 15, 2007. http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=67824e36-aaf6-4445-86a7-41440589441b&k=32409
- Gregg Popovich honored at Air Force Academy. 04 April 2008. KOAA. http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_sports_news/x9317948
- 2002 USA Basketball