Perhaps one of the most decorated and admired active coach today is Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. Popovich steered his Spurs team to four NBA championships in 14 years (1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007) making him just the fourth coach to win four or more NBA titles just like Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, John Kundla and Pat Riley. his sweetest achievements perhaps is being named as the 2003 NBA Coach of the Year.http://www.nba.com/coachfile/gregg_popovich/

He was named as an assistant coach of the United States national basketball squad three times, the 2002 World Basketball Championship, the 2003 FIBA America Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. http://www.nba.com/coachfile/gregg_popovich/

Popovich was born in East Chicago, Indiana on January 28, 1949. He attended the United States Air Force Academy and played four years here. He graduated with a degree in Soviet studies in 1970 in the academy. He attended six years in the Air Force and obtained his master’s degree in Physical Education and Sports Sciences from the University of Denver. He played for the US Armed Forces Team and was later named as a team captain in 1972. He went on to coach the Pomona-Pitzer basketball quintet. http://www.nba.com/coachfile/gregg_popovich/

He then pursued studying coaching under the tutelage of Larry Brown at the University of Kansas and later became Brown's assistant coach in the San Antonio Spurs. http://www.nba.com/coachfile/gregg_popovich/

After his assistant coaching stint with the Golden State Warriors, Popovich was named the General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations of the San Antonio Spurs. He eventually replaced Bob Hill as the team’s head coach in 1996, and in 1999 he made a milestone for the team as he win his first NBA Championship. Popovich's commitment and patriotism for his country was given due recognition as he was honored by the Air Force Academy with its Distinguished Graduate Award in 2007.

In the 2009-2010 NBA season Gregg Popovich again guided the four-time NBA titlists San Antonio Spurs to its 13th consecutive appearance in the NBA playoffs and essayed a masterful 4-3 victory over their higher seeded opponent Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. The exhausted Spurs who played seven games in dispatching the Mavericks, would later bow out to a team that loves to run, that is, the Phoenix Suns. The Spurs lost to the Suns 0-4 in the Western Conference Semifinals, as their hopes having another crack at the NBA title vanished in thin air.