CNN
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San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich – the NBA’s all-time winningest head coach – has made the decision to leave the team’s sideline after 29 seasons.
“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.”
Popovich will transition to the team’s president of basketball operations, according to the team. ESPN was first to report on his decision. Mitch Johnson, who was interim head coach in Popovich’s absence, has been named head coach.
The decision to step back from the bench represents the end to a Hall of Fame career on the sidelines for Popovich, long known as one of the premier coaches in the NBA and across the basketball world.
Popovich, 76, had been absent from the sideline since suffering a mild stroke on November 2 at Frost Bank Center, the home arena of the Spurs.
At the time, the team announced that he was in rehabilitation and was “expected to make a full recovery.”
In a statement released in December, Popovich had expressed his desire to return to coaching.
“No one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process,” Popovich said at the time. “They’ve quickly learned that I’m less than coachable.”
Johnson, then a Spurs assistant, was promoted to interim head coach in Popovich’s absence.
Popovich a winner and a mentor
Beyond leading the Spurs to multiple NBA championships, Popovich has served as a mentor to players and coaches alike in the pro and college ranks.
In 2014, he famously hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach – leading to more women on NBA coaching staffs.
In 2020, when Popovich was ejected from a game, Hammon became the first woman to direct an NBA team as a head coach in a regular-season game. Today, Hammon is considered one of the premier head coaches in the WNBA, leading the Las Vegas Aces to back-to-back WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023.
At the NCAA men’s Final Four last month, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson spoke multiple times about the key role Popovich played in his own career.
Popovich joined the Spurs in the summer of 1988, as an assistant coach to Larry Brown’s staff and later left to be an assistant at Golden State under Don Nelson.
In 1994, Popovich joined San Antonio’s front office. He became the head coach of the Spurs on December 10, 1996, taking over after he fired Bob Hill. Of his 37 years in the NBA as a coach or executive, 35 of those seasons have been with the Spurs.
He has 1,422 regular season victories to his name, an NBA record. He has also won 170 postseason games, five NBA championships and is one of only three coaches to win the NBA coach of the year award three times alongside Nelson and Pat Riley.
Popovich, as head coach of the USA Basketball men’s national team, led Team USA to the gold medal in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021.
“Coach Pop’s extraordinary impact on our family, San Antonio, the Spurs and the game of basketball is profound,” said Peter Holt, the managing partner of the Spurs. “His accolades and awards don’t do justice to the impact he has had on so many 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 29-year run as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.”
CNN’s Ben Morse contributed to this report.