Who is the San Antonio Spurs head coach? Mitch Johnson leads the Spurs; Tiago Splitter is in the news—but not for San Antonio

If you’re seeing “Tiago Splitter head coach” on your feed and wondering whether the Spurs coach just changed, here’s the clean answer: Mitch Johnson is the San Antonio Spurs head coach. Tiago Splitter, a former Spurs center, is making headlines this week as an interim head coach elsewhere, which is why searches for “Spurs head coach,” “Spurs coach,” and “Tiago Splitter” are colliding.

Spurs coach update: Mitch Johnson is in charge in San Antonio

San Antonio entered this season with Mitch Johnson at the helm after a spring transition that moved Gregg Popovich upstairs to run basketball operations. Johnson, a longtime Spurs assistant and former Stanford point guard, has been part of the organization’s bench brain trust for years, including stints directing the team during past absences. The promotion kept the franchise’s core identity—player development, ball movement, and defensive accountability—intact while giving Johnson latitude to tune schemes for a roster built around length, pace, and Victor Wembanyama’s two-way gravity.

What Johnson brings:

• Continuity with a twist. Expect familiar Spurs principles with more switchable looks and tempo bursts that weaponize the team’s size.

• Player development chops. Johnson’s reputation inside the building has been forged on daily, incremental growth—vital for a roster heavy on 22-and-under contributors.

• Calm game management. He favors simple coverage rules and an eight- to nine-man rotation that tightens late, letting stars decide while role players know exactly where their shots live.

Tiago Splitter’s role: interim head coach—just not for the Spurs

Yes, Tiago Splitter is a Spurs champion (2014) and fan favorite. No, he is not the San Antonio Spurs head coach. Splitter’s name is trending because he has been tapped as an interim head coach for a different NBA team this week. The Spurs connection—and the phrasing “head coach” in headlines—has led to understandable confusion in search results.

Why his name is everywhere right now:

• Splitter’s résumé includes years in the Spurs system as a starting center, which makes any coaching news about him feel Spurs-adjacent.

• Social posts often truncate team names or just say “Tiago Splitter named interim head coach,” which readers can misread as a San Antonio move.

• Fans naturally search “Spurs coach” or “San Antonio Spurs coach” to verify, pulling in both Johnson and Splitter.

How San Antonio replaced a legend without losing its map

When Popovich shifted into the front office, the franchise prioritized continuity on the bench and clarity in roles. Johnson already had deep working relationships with the locker room and staff, smoothing a transition that could have been jarring. The basketball logic is straightforward:

• Keep the culture: Film habits, teaching cadence, and standards remain Popovich-grade.

• Modernize the menu: More five-out spacing, inverted pick-and-rolls with Wembanyama as ball handler at times, and defensive schemes that toggle between drop, switch, and zone depending on matchups.

• Invest in edges: Emphasis on late-clock execution and after-timeout sets—areas where a calm sideline voice often swings a one-possession game.

Why searches are mixing “Tiago Splitter” and “Spurs head coach”

• Legacy link: Splitter’s Spurs past ensures any big career step gets routed through San Antonio fandom.

• Timing: His interim appointment landed during opening-week chatter, the same window when fans check “Who’s coaching the Spurs this year?”

• SEO collision: Queries like “tiago splitter spurs head coach” mash two separate facts—his Spurs history and his new interim role elsewhere—into one result page.

Quick answers for fans

• Who is the San Antonio Spurs head coach right now? Mitch Johnson.

• Is Tiago Splitter coaching the Spurs? No. He’s an interim head coach for another NBA franchise.

• What’s Popovich’s job? He’s in the front office steering basketball operations.

• What changes on the floor? More schematic flexibility around Wembanyama, with Johnson leaning on clarity and continuity to drive nightly improvement.

What this means for the Spurs this season

San Antonio gets the best of both worlds: institutional memory with a fresh voice. Johnson’s task is to translate that stability into wins by sharpening late-game execution, tightening the defensive glass, and building a top-10 defense around size and length. With Popovich setting vision and Johnson running the day-to-day, the Spurs coach conversation is settled—in San Antonio, it’s Mitch Johnson—even as a beloved ex-Spur, Tiago Splitter, steps into a spotlight of his own somewhere else.