After nearly three decades guiding the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich is stepping down as the club's head coach but will remain with the organization as the team's president of basketball operations, the franchise announced on Friday.
Popovich's coaching tenure ends after 29 seasons and 1,422 regular-season wins, the most in NBA history. He won five NBA titles as Spurs' head coach.
Prior to Friday, he was the longest active head coach among the four major sports leagues in North America.
Popovich missed most of the 2024-25 campaign after having a stroke early in the season. Mitch Johnson served as the interim coach for the majority of the season.
"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. "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 meaningful to me."
Popovich's Spurs won NBA titles in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. He was the NBA's Coach of the Year 2003, 2012 and 2014.
After his tenure got off to a rocky start in 1996-97, his squads made the playoffs 20 consecutive years. That streak, however, was broken in 2019-20. The Spurs have not made the playoffs since.
