THE San Antonio Spurs have made a major decision on the team’s new head coach following Gregg Popovich’s stepping down from the role.
The iconic Popovich suffered a health scare last year and will hold a new full-time job with the Spurs.
3
3
The Spurs announced that Popovich has retired from head coaching and that he will be the team’s full-time president.
The 76-year-old Popovich, who’s the winningest coach in NBA history, has recently dealt with numerous health scares, including a mild stroke in November, which held him out for the rest of the 2024-25 season.
Mitch Johnson has been the interim coach since then, and he will take on a bigger role.
The Spurs announced that Johnson will be the full-time head coach.
Under Johnson, the Spurs went 32-45.
The 38-year-old joined the franchise as an assistant in 2019.
Johnson was then promoted to a full-time assistant in 2020 as he replaced Hall of Famer and Spurs icon Tim Duncan.
He also served as an interim head coach for Popovich in 2021 and 2023 when Popovich was dealing with an illness.
“We are thrilled for Mitch Johnson to be our next head coach,” Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt wrote in a team statement.
“Throughout his decade in the organization we have seen that Mitch has the right values, poise and potential to lead us into the future.”
At the age of 38, Johnson will be the third-youngest coach in the league.
Before joining the Spurs, he was a G League assistant for the Austin Spurs, as he helped the team win a championship in 2018.
“I am truly grateful and honored to receive this incredible opportunity,” Johnson said.
“I am thankful for Coach Pop, RC, Brian and Peter trusting me to carry on our culture and I promise to give this responsibility everything I have to make Spurs fans proud.”
3
Johnson will have a massive opportunity on his hands.
He will get to continue to work with the NBA star Victor Wembanyama.
Johnson will coach under Popovich, who has 1,422 regular-season wins and five NBA Finals titles on his Hall of Fame coaching resume.
The Spurs will hope to make the playoffs in 2025-26 for the first time since 2017.