Gregg Popovich’s tenure as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs officially came to an end late last week when the Spurs announced he was stepping down after 29 years, but would remain the team’s president. Popovich’s run as coach of the Spurs was one of consistent excellence, winning five NBA championships and establishing a culture in San Antonio that teams have been trying to replicate throughout the league for years.
While no one expected Popovich to announce his retirement plans early and accept a year-long retirement tour, his departure from the sidelines was far more abrupt than he or anyone would’ve intended. After suffering a mild stroke in November, Popovich stepped away from the team and Mitch Johnson took over as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. Despite a desire to get back to coaching, Popovich ultimately determined that he should step back from the bench and solely into the front office role, with Johnson being quickly elevated to the full-time head coach.
On Monday, the Spurs held an introductory press conference for Johnson, during which Popovich made his first public appearance in front of cameras since his stroke. Flanked by Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, who are assisting Popovich in his rehab, he took to the podium and thanked everyone for all their well wishes and noted that he’s getting better by the day, but that it hasn’t been enough to get back to where he needs to be to coach the team.
“It’s quite a day for many of us, but there’s a lot of thank yous after 25 or 30 years,” Popovich said. “Mitch Johnson, Manu, Timmy. I can never express the gratitude I have for so many people caring about our organization and sending me thoughts and prayers, that sort of thing, since I had this stroke. Things are getting better by the day, but it’s not good enough for what we plan ahead. So it’s time to make this change. I want to thank all of you in here, former players, coaches, friends, people from the ticket office and people who put on a show during timeouts, we all have a part in this. It’s not just the players and coaches, everybody that has been dedicated to do their part to make us a successful and thriving organization. And that starts at the top with the Holt family. We will continue to do our best to do this with class. It’s one of the reasons why Mitch Johnson will be taking over, because we have total faith in him to continue what’s been started a long time ago.”
He also made sure everyone knew what his new job title was, taking off a jacket to reveal a shirt that simply said “El Jefe.”
“I wanna make sure everyone understands what my new job is,” Popovich said as he removed the jacket. “I’m no longer Coach, I’m El Jefe.”
He then turned around to show off the back of his shirt that said “Señor Popovich, President of Basketball Ops” while Duncan and Ginobili chuckled.
It was great to see Pop at the podium, cracking jokes and in good spirits and seemingly fairly good health. He is six months removed from his stroke and clearly he’s still working his way back physically, but it’s obvious his wit and dry sense of humor hasn’t changed a bit. He may no longer be prowling the sidelines in San Antonio, but he left no doubt who the boss remains in the Spurs organization going forward.
