After a legendary 29 seasons as the San Antonio Spurs’ head coach, Gregg Popovich has stepped down from his role, which will be filled by Stanford alumnus Mitch Johnson ‘09.

Johnson was hired as the Spurs’ assistant coach in 2019, and was named interim head coach in 2024 as Popovich began to struggle with his health.

Johnson played for the Cardinal from 2005-2009, averaging 5.2 points, 4.1 assists and three rebounds per game during his stint. He made the NCAA tournament in two of his four seasons, and led the Pac-10 conference in assists in 2008 with 188. He holds the program’s single-game record for assists with 16 against Marquette in the 2008 Sweet 16 and is currently second in Cardinal history in assists with 534.

The 6-1 guard was a Pac-10 All-Freshman Team Honorable Mention pick in 2006, and was selected as an All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention in 2008.

Johnson went undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft and proceeded to play professional basketball in both the NBA G League and in Europe before beginning his coaching career at Seattle University in 2011. His NBA career began in 2016 with the Spurs’ G League affiliate the Austin Spurs, with which he won the G League Championship.

He will inherit a 34-48 Spurs team that, despite its poor performance in recent years, is widely regarded as one of the teams with the best young cores in the NBA — between former No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama, Rookie of the Year winner Stephon Castle and a 3.4% chance at a top four pick in the upcoming draft, Johnson will have more than enough to work with.