San Antonio, 3 May

Gregg Popovich stepped down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, ending a three-decade run that saw him lead the team 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 game remain, I've decided it's time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said.

He will remain as team president. Mitch Johnson, a Spurs assistant who filled in for Popovich for the season's final 77 games, becomes the team's head coach.

Popovich, 76, missed all but five games this season after having a stroke at the team's arena on Nov. 2. He has not spoken publicly since, though had addressed his team at least once and released a statement 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 support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me," Popovich said.

Popovich's career ends with a record of 1,422-869, which includes the 77 games — 32 wins and 45 losses — that were coached by Johnson this season. He also won 170 playoff games with the Spurs, the most by any coach with one team and the third-most overall behind Phil Jackson's 229 and Pat Riley's 171.

“The best there ever was,” Spurs great Manu Ginobili said last year of Popovich.

An NBA and Olympic champion

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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 170 coaches in the NBA and there have been 303 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,” said Chris Paul, who played for the Spurs this 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 always 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 said, 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 said. “I actually 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 showed who he is.”

He took over in 1996

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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. 10, 1996. The timing seemed, at best, awkward. The Spurs were 3-15 at that point, having played all 18 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 said that day.

The Spurs hadn't changed direction again since.

“Coach Pop's extraordinary impact on our family, San Antonio, the Spurs and the game of basketball is profound,” Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. “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.”

The fortunes changed — Duncan was picked No. 1 overall in the 1997 draft — but the direction under Popovich always stayed the same. The first championship came in 1999; others followed in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. In his first 22 seasons as coach, the Spurs had 22 winning records, the first 20 of those seasons winning at least 60% of the time.

His decision to step away 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.

“Gregg Popovich's sustained success as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs is incomparable. ... There are few people in the basketball community as beloved and revered as Coach Pop,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.

A tenure like almost none other

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Popovich's was a tenure like few others. He coached the Spurs for 29 seasons, a span nearly unmatched in U.S. major pro sports history. Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 years, George Halas coached the Chicago Bears for 40 and John McGraw managed the New York Giants for 31. Those three tenures — all wrapping up well over a half-century ago — are the only ones exceeding the length of Popovich's run with the Spurs; his tenure in San Antonio was matched by the Dallas Cowboys' Tom Landry and the Green Bay Packers' Curly Lambeau.