Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s all-time wins leader, retires after 29 seasons as coach in San Antonio

Gregg Popovich stepped down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday ending a three-decade run that saw him lead the gang to five NBA championships become the league s all-time wins leader and earn induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame While my love and passion for the battle remain I ve decided it s time to step away as head coach Popovich mentioned He will remain as band president Mitch Johnson a Spurs assistant who filled in for Popovich for the season s final games becomes the club s head coach Popovich missed all but five games this season after having a stroke at the squad s arena on Nov He has not spoken publicly since though had addressed his organization at least once and distributed a declaration in late March saying that he hoped to return to coaching That won t be happening 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 advocacy the organization public and city that are so meaningful to me Popovich revealed Popovich s career ends with a record of - which does include the games wins and losses that were coached by Johnson this season He also won playoff games with the Spurs the the bulk by any coach with any one association and the third-most overall behind only Phil Jackson s and Pat Riley s The best there ever was Spurs great Manu Ginobili declared last year of Popovich An NBA and Olympic champion Popovich was a three-time coach of the year led the U S to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and coached six Hall of Famers in San Antonio Ginobili David Robinson Tim Duncan Tony Parker Dominique Wilkins and Pau Gasol He went up against different coaches during his time in the NBA and there have been coaching changes made in the league including interim moves during the Popovich era I ve got a video on my phone that s like priceless reported Chris Paul who played for the Spurs this past season going there in large part because of the lure of playing for Popovich It was us in Oklahoma City before shootaround and Pop is doing ballhandling stuff All these years I ve consistently seen Pop coaching in a suit but I didn t know how hard of a worker he was when it comes to training That work ethic Paul declared carried over into this year after the stroke and Popovich s commitment to his rehabilitation process I was the first one to get to the arena for games and I would walk past the training room and Pop would be on the treadmill Paul disclosed I in fact had a chance to be in there while Pop is doing rehab or whatnot So to see how hard he works that s what I m glad I got a chance to see It had nothing to do with basketball It just evidenced who he is He took over in Popovich in his role as general manager of the Spurs made the move to fire coach Bob Hill and promote himself into that job on Dec The timing seemed at best awkward The Spurs were - at that point having played all of those games without Robinson who was just about to come back from injury Popovich took over on the day that Robinson returned to the lineup A change in direction was necessary Popovich announced that day The Spurs hadn t changed direction again since Coach Pop s extraordinary impact on our family San Antonio the Spurs and the contest of basketball is profound Spurs managing partner Peter J Holt mentioned His accolades and awards don t do justice to the impact he has had on so multiple 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 -year run as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs The fortunes changed Duncan was picked No overall in the draft but the direction under Popovich invariably stayed the same The first championship came in others followed in and In his first seasons as head coach the Spurs had winning records the first of those seasons winning at least of the time His decision to step away now comes with the Spurs having just completed the second year of a rebuild around French star Victor Wembanyama who arrived touted as the next San Antonio great and has done nothing to suggest he won t live up to that billing How he started Popovich played at the U S Air Force Academy famously wasn t picked in a bid to make the U S Olympic gang specific still say he merited a spot on that company and wound up becoming a coach who might have been perfectly content to run Pomona-Pitzer a Division III undertaking in California for the entirety of his professional life That school had lost consecutive conference games when he arrived it didn t take long for Popovich to deliver a conference championship Eventually the NBA called In time Popovich would be paired with Robinson then the patriarch of a dynasty fueled by Duncan Parker and Ginobili And out of that Popovich put together a career like none other Everyone knows the amazing job he s done and all the accomplishments longtime coach Larry Brown revealed in I wish more people really could know the type of person that he is He was famously grumpy liked to clash with reporters rarely offered any details of his basketball or private life other than what was necessary It was simultaneously real and an act Popovich has a much softer side as well he quietly championed causes like the San Antonio Food Bank for years and wasn t afraid to make his political views known And those lucky enough to know him find him hilarious He has an amazing sense of humor Boston forward Jayson Tatum disclosed while playing for Popovich during the Tokyo Olympics four years ago I guess the casual fan sees the person who does those interviews postgame but that s not the event of who he is at all I absolutely love spending time with him A loss in the NBA Finals crushed Popovich whose Spurs were in position to close out the Miami Heat in six games lost Event in overtime after Ray Allen s -pointer with seconds remaining in regulation kept the Heat alive then fell in Match But in the moments after the final horn as Miami coach Erik Spoelstra embraced his staff Popovich joined the hug with a wide smile Spoelstra who became head coach of the Heat in now becomes the league s longest-tenured in his current position He s invariably just been an incredible example of class dignity Spoelstra announced of Popovich To be able to do that after wins or losses I just think it s a great example that you can still have class regardless of how the outcome comes during a competition When the Spurs beat the Heat for the title in a finals rematch in it was Spoelstra who felt the sting of losing And once again it was Popovich who sent congratulations on a job well done There is no one out there like Pop Golden State coach Steve Kerr noted A tenure like almost none other Popovich s was a tenure like limited others Popovich coached the Spurs for seasons a span nearly unmatched in U S major pro sports history Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for years George Halas coached the Chicago Bears for years and John McGraw managed the New York Giants for years Those three tenures all wrapping up well over a half-century ago are the only ones exceeding the length of Popovich s coaching run with the Spurs his -year era in San Antonio was matched by the Dallas Cowboys Tom Landry and the Green Bay Packers Curly Lambeau It means I m old Popovich declared last year Popovich broke a gender barrier of sorts in the league when he hired Becky Hammon as the league s first female full-time paid assistant coach Hammon now coach of the WNBA s Las Vegas Aces would also become the first female head summer league coach in the NBA and first female acting head coach when she replaced Popovich for a championship in Basketball is basketball South Carolina women s coach Dawn Staley noted when urged about Popovich in It doesn t have a gender It has a mind It has an approach It has a willingness Given the opportunity women can excel in this encounter As you can see Becky Hammon is doing a great job You need more people like Coach Popovich to give them opportunities to learn to grow and to embrace it I don t think he sees gender I think he sees someone that has a great basketball mind that s tireless Once you re given that opportunity you see great things come out of it Popovich spoke about wine whenever he could and offered his views on politics and current events but rarely offered much insight into coaching decisions or personnel matters It was almost military-like secrecy which made sense given that Popovich was a graduate of the U S Air Force Academy and was an expert on among other things the rise and fall of the Soviet Union His love of country led to him taking a small side job during his San Antonio tenure that being coaching USA Basketball for the World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics two years later His World Cup unit finished seventh the worst placing ever for a U S organization with NBA players His Olympic company won gold It s impossible to separate it if you have been in the military Popovich explained when appealed about the parallels of being at the Air Force Academy and coaching the country s national club I ve had classmates that have fought in wars I have not and specific of them are no longer with us You get an appreciation for people who have sacrificed So when you have an opportunity to do this for your country it s impossible to say no I love being part of it