Gregg Popovich Impact Felt Throughout Utah Jazz Organization
May 2, 2025, 1:59 PM | Updated: May 5, 2025, 11:36 am
SALT LAKE CITY – The impact of Gregg Popovich, the Hall of Fame head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, has been felt throughout the NBA over the last three decades, including with the Utah Jazz.
Popovich announced he was stepping away from coaching permanently after 29 years overseeing San Antonio.
Beyond key battles between the Jazz and Spurs in the playoffs, Popovich’s extensive coaching tree has roots that have extended to Salt Lake City.
Related: Gregg Popovich Suffered Stroke During 2024-25 Season
Gregg Popovich Responsible For Some Of Jazz’s Biggest Hires
One of the first big names to join the Jazz organization from the Popovich lineage wasn’t a coach at all.
In 2012, unbeknownst to many, Jazz General Manager Kevin O’Connor began looking for his replacement as he transitioned to Vice President of Basketball Operations.
O’Connor hired Dennis Lindsey, who had worked with Popovich and RC Buford as an assistant GM with the Spurs since 2007.
29 seasons of coaching brilliance pic.twitter.com/tGzy31hC7f
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 2, 2025
Lindsey was a natural choice for the Jazz, who saw many of their own principles in the culture Popovich had created in San Antonio, which were notoriously crafted after the way Jerry Sloan operated for the Jazz.
Not only did Popovich mimic the responsibilities delegated by Sloan to his assistants, but also the carefully cultivated reputation of professionalism and consistency brought to Utah by the longtime Jazz head coach.
Lindsey served as the Jazz’s general manager from 2012 through 2019 when he was promoted to Vice President of Basketball Operations. The executive moved into an advisory role in 2021, and left the organization in 2023.
Quin Snyder Came From The Gregg Popovich tree
Under Lindsey’s watch, the Jazz hired Quin Snyder to replace Tyrone Corbin as the team’s head coach.
After a tumultuous seven-year stint at the University of Missouri, Popovich and the Spurs hired Snyder to lead their Developmental League affiliate, the Austin Toros.
Over three seasons, Snyder transformed the Toros into one of the perimeter D-League rosters before accepting a job as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Gregg Popovich and Quin Snyder mirroring each other was weird pic.twitter.com/Wpbo3SPHmt
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) April 2, 2017
After stops in Los Angeles, Moscow, and Atlanta, Snyder was hired by the Jazz, but credited Popovich with his return to coaching.
“From a personal standpoint, the times I have needed help or guidance, he’s been there for me,” Snyder said. “It’s probably emblematic of all the people that he’s touched and supported and helped throughout his career.”
Snyder left the Jazz in 2022 after a successful run in Utah, qualifying for the postseason in six of his years with the franchise.
Jazz Replace Snyder With Fellow Spurs Alumn
After Snyder left the Jazz, the team followed a similar playbook in their previous coaching search, adding another Spurs graduate in Will Hardy.
Hardy was connected with the Spurs organization through a mentor at Williams College and began his NBA career as a video assistant in San Antonio.
“He started out at the bottom in the film room,” Popovich said of Hardy. “It was pretty apparent very quickly that he understood everything that the coaches wanted.”
“I will always credit our team’s resilience, another example that we just won’t go away. … It’s a great opportunity for our team to learn that we have to maintain that focus.”#TakeNote
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 27, 2022
The wunderkind worked his way up through the ranks on Popovich’s staff before following Ime Udoka to Boston to serve as an assistant with the Celtics.
After serving as the lead assistant on the Celtics staff that went to the NBA Finals in 2022, Hardy was hired by the Jazz where’s led the team since 2022.
While Popovich is stepping away from coaching, he isn’t leaving the NBA.
The five-time champion has been named team president, while interim Mitch Johnson has been named head coach.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.
