Gregg Popovich steps away as San Antonio Spurs head coach at 76 after having a stroke as NBA era ends

Legendary San Antonio Spurs leader Gregg Popovich will no longer be the team’s head coach and is reportedly transitioning full-time to the team’s president. 

The 76-year-old Popovich will move away from the bench as the NBA’s all-time winningest head coach after leading the Spurs to five championships. 

Last November, Popovich suffered a stroke and took an indefinite leave of absence from the team. He did not coach another game during the season.

Popovich also recently fainted at a restaurant, leading to his hospitalization. The incident only ramped up speculation Popovich would never return to coaching. 

Popovich was not only the longest-tenured NBA coach at 29 years, he was at the helm in San Antonio longer than any head coach in any of the big-four leagues. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin now holds the record, having started with the organization a year before Erik Spoelstra began his time as the Miami Heat’s leader in 2008. 

Those two far exceed the longest-tenured bench bosses in baseball and hockey, who are Los Angeles Dodgers’ coach Dave Roberts (2016) and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper (2013) respectively.

Popovich coached 2,291 career games, winning 1,422, for a win percentage of .621. 

The Spurs last championship came in 2014, when they took down a loaded Miami Heat team with LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and Ray Allen in five games. 

The only modern example in American sports that compares or exceeds Popvich’s tenure in length is that of former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who lead another Texas team for 29 years. 

Popovich’s tenure exceeds in length that of sports legends Bill Belichick, who was the New England Patriots coach for 24 years and Sir Alex Ferguson, who coached Manchester United for 27 seasons. 

No immediate replacement was announced for Popovich, with Mitch Johnson serving as the team’s interim coach this season.