Pop article in the Boston Globe

[ShoogarBear]

Some stuff here I never knew about. I would hope that the San Antonio media has already written about this before.

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Maintaining school ties

By Peter May | February 20, 2005

He has been an NBA Coach of the Year. He has won two NBA championships. He is coaching the Western Conference All-Stars tonight in the All-Star Game at Denver.

Gregg Popovich has built up a pretty impressive resume over the last decade (in no small part because of the presence of one Tim Duncan). He has been an NBA fixture for almost two decades.

But if not for a dispute with a college dean almost 20 years ago, the man universally known as Pop might still be doing what he secretly loves to do: coaching Division 3 basketball at Pomona-Pitzer in California.

"He went in to ask for a housing allowance, which we all were en led to," recalled Curt Tong, the athletic director at Pomona-Pitzer at the time. "But the dean told him that he was considered staff, not faculty. He got pretty mad about that and I don't blame him one bit. And it was a pretty good deal. The school would buy the house and you'd pay half of the interest. He had been in campus quarters, but it was time to move."

Popovich did move. He went to the Spurs as an assistant to Larry Brown, whom he had come to know over his seven years at Pitzer. But while Popovich went on to bigger things, he maintained a relationship with Tong, who these days lives in Williamstown. Tong was basketball coach at Williams College for a decade before going to Pomona as the athletic director.

"We stay in touch," Popovich said. "When we come to Boston, he comes down to stay at the Four Seasons. I had him down to San Antonio one year when we were in the playoffs. He has been a very, very important person to me in my life, both from a personal and professional standpoint."

The Popovich-Tong relationship began after Popovich's first season at Pomona-Pitzer. The basketball coach was on the search committee for a new athletic director. Tong, who was happy coaching at Williams, had resisted the call from Pomona-Pitzer before. But he went for an interview with the committee and Popovich came away a certified Tongophile.

"When he came in to interview, I was blown away," Popovich said. "I couldn't imagine anyone else for the job."

Popovich coached for six more years at Pomona, with Tong on board as AD. As a former basketball coach, Tong could relate.

"We hit it off really well," Popovich said. "He was the best I've ever seen at letting you do your job while at the same time being there if there was something you needed to bounce off him."

Said Tong, "He's a special person to me. He's mature beyond his years in thinking. And he always had this feeling that people come first. It was that way at Pomona. I think it's that way in San Antonio. He cares just as much about the lives of the people he coaches. And I love to see that."

Tong said Popovich loved the Division 3 atmosphere, where athletes are students first and foremost. Popovich confirmed that.

"You're always around smart people," he said. "I like that."

Popovich has been to Williams to talk to the school's tennis team, a perennial Division 3 powerhouse. (Tong is an excellent senior tennis player.)

"I always wonder," Tong said, "what would have happened had the dean said yes to the housing allowance.

"He really loved the whole Division 3 idea in terms of education first. Not all coaches feel that way. He gave his time to the kids. I don't think he ever wanted to leave Pomona. It wasn't something that he was looking to do."

But he did. It wasn't his resume that got him to San Antonio. In his seven years with the Sagehens, Popovich's teams were 69-100, including 2-22 his first year. But the last team won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference le and his lead assistant, Charles Katsiaficas (an Ellsworth, Maine, native and Tufts graduate), is head coach there now.

Popovich is now rich, famous, a wine guy, and someone who likes indie films. My guess, and Curtis Tong's guess as well, is that Pop is still a D-3 guy at heart.

Link

[Gummi]

I sometimes feel that the fans of the Spurs don't appreciate the job Pop has done in San Antonio. In my mind he's the best coach in this league, I've always liked him as a coach and also what he stands for.

When Pop decides enough is enough, that will be a sad day for the Spurs. I hope he'll coach at least until Duncan retires.

P.S. I really enjoy when he goes mad and storms the sidelines waiting for a T.

[IX_Equilibrium]

I sometimes feel that the fans of the Spurs don't appreciate the job Pop has done in San Antonio. In my mind he's the best coach in this league, I've always liked him as a coach and also what he stands for.

When Pop decides enough is enough, that will be a sad day for the Spurs. I hope he'll coach at least until Duncan retires.

P.S. I really enjoy when he goes mad and storms the sidelines waiting for a T.

I think the people of SA do appreciate Pop very much.

You can get sort of dissillusioned by the negativity on this forum. People ripping on Malik, Barry, Pop, etc.

But the local media and fans know what they have as a coach in Pop.

[picnroll]

Another one to send to that stain on humanity Vescey.

[Mark in Austin]

Said Tong, "He's a special person to me. He's mature beyond his years in thinking. And he always had this feeling that people come first. It was that way at Pomona. I think it's that way in San Antonio. He cares just as much about the lives of the people he coaches. And I love to see that."

This is the reason that despite his more authoritarian style, so many players respect Pop. i.e. the recent poll of current players in the League where 53% said Pop was the best coach.