List of San Antonio Spurs head coaches

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The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. They are a member of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise was founded as the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. [1] The team suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest by fans in Dallas, and the name "Dallas" was dropped in favor of "Texas" during the 1970–71 season in an attempt to make the team regional. This also proved to be a failure, and the team returned full-time to use "Dallas" for the 1971–72 season. [2] The team was put up for sale after missing the playoffs in the 1972–73 season. [1] [2] The team was acquired by a group of 36 San Antonio businessmen, led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs, who relocated the team to San Antonio, Texas and renamed it to Spurs. [1] [2] In 1976, the ABA folded, threatening the future of San Antonio's sole professional sports franchise. [1] The NBA, however, decided to admit four ABA teams into the league, including the Spurs, along with the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers and the New York Nets. [1]

Contents

There have been 18  head coaches for the San Antonio Spurs. The franchise won their first NBA championship in 1999 coached by Gregg Popovich. [1] The Spurs won four additional NBA championships in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 under Popovich. [1] Popovich is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. [3] He also won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2003, 2012, and 2014. [4] Larry Brown, Jerry Tarkanian, and Popovich are the only members of the franchise that have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [5] Bob Bass, who has coached with the Spurs for four terms, leads the franchise in most terms coached. [6] Cliff Hagan, Max Williams, Bill Blakeley, Dave Brown, Morris McHone, Tarkanian and Popovich spent their entire coaching careers with the Spurs. [3] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Key

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win% Winning percentage
#Number of coaches [a]
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Spurs
Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach
*Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and
spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Spurs

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2024–25 season.

#NameTerm [b] GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
Dallas/Texas Chaparrals
Cliff Hagan *1967–197019910990.5481578.467 [7]
Max Williams *1970602832.467624.333 [8]
Bill Blakeley *1970–1971652540.385404.000 [9]
Tom Nissalke 1971–1972844242.500404.000 [13]
Babe McCarthy 1972–1973722448.333 [14]
Dave Brown *19731248.333 [10]
San Antonio Spurs
Tom Nissalke 1973–19741126349.563734.428 [13]
Bob Bass 1974–19761408357.5931358.385 [6]
Doug Moe 19761980 312177135.56722913.409 [15]
Bob Bass 1980 1688.500312.333 [6]
Stan Albeck 19801983 24615393.622271314.481 [16]
Morris McHone * 1983 311120.355 [11]
Bob Bass 1983–1984 512625.510 [6]
Cotton Fitzsimmons 19841986 1647688.463826.250 [17]
Bob Weiss 19861988 16459105.360303.000 [18]
Larry Brown 19881992 284153131.5391477.500 [5]
Bob Bass 1992 442618.591303.000 [6]
Jerry Tarkanian * 1992 20911.450 [12]
Rex Hughes 1992 1101.000 [19]
John Lucas II 19921994 1439449.6571468.428 [20]
Bob Hill 19941996 18212458.681251411.560 [21]
Gregg Popovich * 19962025 2,2911,422869.621284170114.5992002–03, 2011–12, 2013–14 NBA Coach of the Year [22]
5 championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014)
[3]
Mitch Johnson * 2025–present [23]

Notes

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "San Antonio Spurs History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dallas Chaparrals History". RememberTheABA.com. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 "Gregg Popovich Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  4. "Gregg Popovich". USA Basketball. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  5. 1 2 "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bob Bass Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Cliff Hagan Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  8. 1 2 "Max Williams Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  9. 1 2 "Bill Blakely Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  10. 1 2 "Dave Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  11. 1 2 "Morris McHone Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  12. 1 2 "Jerry Tarkanian Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  13. 1 2 "Tom Nissalke Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  14. "Babe McCarthy Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  15. "Doug Moe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  16. "Stan Albeck Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  17. "Cotton Fitzsimmons Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  18. "Bob Weiss Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  19. "Rex Hughes Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  20. "John Lucas Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  21. "Bob Hill Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  22. "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  23. "San Antonio Spurs Name Mitch Johnson Head Coach". NBA.com. May 2, 2025. Retrieved May 2, 2025.