Gregg Popovich

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Gregg Popovich bigraphy, stories - American basketball coach and player

Gregg Popovich : biography

January 28, 1949 –

Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs. Taking over as coach of the Spurs in 1996, Popovich is the longest tenured coach in both the NBA and all Big Four sports leagues. He is often referred to as "Coach Pop" or simply "Pop". He has won four NBA championships as the head coach of the Spurs.

Early life and education

Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana on January 28, 1949, to a Serbian father and Croatian mother. He attended Merrillville High School and graduated in 1970 from the United States Air Force Academy. He played basketball for four seasons at the Academy and in his senior year was the team captain and the leading scorer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Soviet Studies, and he underwent Air Force intelligence gathering and processing training. At one point, Popovich considered a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.Popovich is a man of mystery. National Post, June 15, 2007. http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=67824e36-aaf6-4445-86a7-41440589441b&k=32409

Popovich served five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, during which he toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with the U.S. Armed Forces Basketball Team. In 1972, he was selected as captain of the Armed Forces Team, which won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championship. This earned him an invitation to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team trials.

Popovich returned to the Air Force Academy as an assistant coach in 1973 under head coach Hank Egan, a position he held for six years. Egan would later become an assistant coach under Popovich for the San Antonio Spurs, and later an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers under Mike Brown.

During his time with the coaching staff of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Popovich attended the University of Denver and earned his masters degree in physical education and sports sciences. In 1979, he was named the head basketball coach of Pomona-Pitzer’s men’s team.

During his time as head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, Popovich became a disciple and later a close friend of head coach Larry Brown at Kansas University. Popovich took off the 1985–1986 season at Pomona-Pitzer to become a volunteer assistant at Kansas, where he could study directly under Brown. Popovich returned to Pomona-Pitzer and resumed his duties as head coach the next season.

On April 4, 2008, Popovich returned to the U.S. Air Force Academy to receive the Academy’s award of Distinguished Graduate. Despite his four NBA titles, Popovich said the award possibly was the most meaningful award he had ever received.Gregg Popovich honored at Air Force Academy. 04 April 2008. KOAA. http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_sports_news/x9317948

Head coaching record

|- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |64||17||47||.266|| align="center" |6th in Midwest||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Missed Playoffs |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||56||26||.683|| align="center" |2nd in Midwest||9||4||5||.444 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |50||37||13||.740|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||17||15||2||.882 | align="center" |Won NBA Championship |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||53||29||.646|| align="center" |2nd in Midwest||4||1||3||.250 | align="center" |Lost in First Round |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||58||24||.707|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||13||7||6||.538 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Finals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||58||24||.707|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||10||4||6||.400 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||60||22||.732|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||24||16||8||.667 | align="center" |Won NBA Championship |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||57||25||.695|| align="center" |2nd in Midwest||10||6||4||.600 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||59||23||.720|| align="center" |1st in Southwest||23||16||7||.696 | align="center" |Won NBA Championship |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||63||19||.768|| align="center" |1st in Southwest||13||7||6||.538 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||58||24||.707|| align="center" |2nd in Southwest||20||16||4||.800 | align="center" |Won NBA Championship |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||56||26||.683|| align="center" |2nd in Southwest||17||9||8||.529 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Finals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||54||28||.659|| align="center" |1st in Southwest||5||1||4||.200 | align="center" |Lost in First Round |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||50||32||.610|| align="center" |2nd in Southwest||10||4||6||.400 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||61||21||.744|| align="center" |1st in Southwest||6||2||4||.333 | align="center" |Lost in First Round |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |66||50||16||.758|| align="center" |1st in Southwest||14||10||4||.714 | align="center" |Lost in Conf. Finals |- | align="left" |SAS | align="left" | |82||58||24|||| align="center" |1st in Southwest||21||15||6||.714 | align="center" | Lost in NBA Finals |-class="sortbottom" | align="left" |Career | ||1328||905||423|||| ||216||133||83||