Dan Quinn lost his five-year contract to continue as president and coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
On Saturday, Gregg Popovich agreed to a five-year deal to continue serving as president and head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
Since taking over as head coach of the Spurs in December 1996, the 74-year-old has won 1,366 games in his 27-year tenure, which is 31 more than Don Nelson, the previous head coach with the most career victories before Popovich overtook him.
With 170 playoff victories, he is third only to Phil Jackson (229) and Pat Riley (171).
Along with Riley and John Kundla, Popovich is one of just five coaches with at least five championships; Jackson had eleven, Red Auerbach had nine, and so on. Next month, he will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Peter J. Holt, managing partner of the Spurs, remarked in May that “his ability to connect and spend time and bounce between the really detailed development of basketball players and the wider picture of growing people is just so astounding.”
Popovich discussed how he has been the “beneficiary of serendipity to a max degree” throughout his career before the Spurs’ season-ending game last season. This was even before San Antonio won the lottery and had the opportunity to draft Victor Wembanyama, potentially having him follow in the footsteps of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who both arrived as No. 1 picks for the Spurs and went on to become franchise cornerstone big men.
