San Antonio Spurs Hire Mitch Johnson as New Head Coach

Mar 27, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Mitch Johnson walks on the court during a timeout in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

The San Antonio Spurs have made a swift move to replace legendary head coach Gregg Popovich, who has made the decision to leave the sideline after 29 seasons. He will be replaced by former Stanford Cardinal Mitch Johnson.

Johnson was a 2009 graduate of Stanford, the point guard of a team that went to two NCAA Tournaments, including a sweet sixteen appearance in 2008. Johnson remains second in program history in assists (534), 13th in steals (121), ninth in games played (129) and seventh in games started (107).

His 188 assists in 2008 led the Pac-10, while his 16 assists in the NCAA Tournament against Marquette are a program single-game record. Johnson was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 honoree in 2008 and a Pac-10 All-Freshman honorable mention pick in 2006.

After a three-year professional career in the NBA G-League and across Europe, Johnson got his start in coaching at Seattle in 2011 and later at Portland as an assistant coach under Eric Reveno. His start in the Spurs organization came in 2016 as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs in 2016, later helping the franchise to a G-League championship in 2018.

Popovich hired Johnson as an assistant coach with the Spurs in 2019, and he was named interim head coach of the Spurs in 2024.

Popovich took over as the Spurs head coach during the 1996-97 season after the team got off to a 3-15 start. They went 17-47 under Pop to finish out that season, but in his first full year at the helm, the Spurs went 56-26 and lost in the Western Conference Semis. They won the first of their five championships the following season.

The Spurs ended up winning four titles in the span of nine seasons from 1998-2007, then added the fifth during the 2013-14 campaign. They continued to make the playoffs every full year under Popovich through the 2018-19 campaign, which was the final season that they have earned a playoff berth.

Over his 29-year career, Popovich went 1422-869 with the Spurs, which includes a 170-114 record in the playoffs. There may not be bigger shoes to fill in any sport. Pop is an NBA legend.

The franchise is certainly headed in the right direction with 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama developing into one of the brightest stars in the game after only two seasons in the League. After a pair of 22-win seasons, the Spurs went 34-48 in 2024-25.