Gregg Popovich

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

Popovich holds the record for most consecutive winning regular seasons in NBA history at 18, and third all time for the regular season, behind Pat Riley with 19, and Phil Jackson with 20. He has won five NBA championships as the head coach of the Spurs, a feat achieved only by four other coaches in NBA history (Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, Pat Riley, and John Kundla). He is also one of 9 coaches in NBA history to have won 1,000 NBA games. Achievements such as these are what garnered him recognition as one of the greatest basketball head coaches of all time.

Early life and education

Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana on January 28, 1949, to a Serbian father and Croatian mother. He started his basketball career playing Biddy Basketball and was on the 1960 Gary Biddy Basketball All-Star Team which finished third in the World Tournament, held at Gary's Memorial Auditorium. 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.