Becky Hammon & Gregg Poppovich’s Basketball Relationship Is Special

Becky Hammon Is Officially An All-Time Great By Being In Hall Of Fame Hall of Famer gets her due Contact/Follow @MWCwire Hammon had a great relationship with Poppovich Mountain West basketball fans have always had plenty to celebrate. This was on …

Becky Hammon Is Officially An All-Time Great By Being In Hall Of Fame

Hall of Famer gets her due

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Hammon had a great relationship with Poppovich

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Mountain West basketball fans have always had plenty to celebrate. 

This was on full display as Becky Hammon of Colorado State and Gregg Popovich of the Air Force Academy were inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Hammon and Poppivich, alongside Tony Parker, a year behind Manu Ginobili, and three years behind Tim Duncan, the players making up San Antonio’s “Big Three” coached by Hammon and Popovich, have achieved basketball’s highest honor and have been permanently recognized for their contributions to the sport. Popovich was presented by those three players, as well as another former player of his, David Robinson of the Class of 2009.

As members of the Class of 2023, Hammon and Popovich were formally enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 12, 2023. Both were inducted as players. Their recognition as players is significant because both played for schools that are now members of the Mountain West conference. Although neither player participated in the Mountain West, it is evidence of the deep impact the Mountain West institutions have had on the sport. Hammon played for Colorado State before her professional career while Popovich did little as a player after his time at the academy. So both, especially Popovich, are being inducted into the Hall of Fame largely for accomplishments they achieved while at Mountain West schools. 

As a player, Hammon was more prolific than Popovich and her playing career was more illustrious than his. 

Hammon, known as “Big Shot Becky” during her playing days, was a standout point guard for Colorado State from 1996-1999. She averaged 16.6 points per game and amassed 2740 points in her career. At the time, the Rams competed in the Western Athletic Conference, and Hammon wasn’t just leading the team, she was running the conference. 

In 2004, Hammon was inducted into the Colorado State Athletics Hall of Fame. Her Hall of Fame bio states that “her career was one of excellence.” She was an AP All-American in 1999 and earned four first-team All-Conference awards in her four-year career. She also won WAC Mountain Division Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999, WAC Pacific Division Player of the Year in 1997, and WAC Freshman of the Year in 1996, and won 14 conference Player of the Week awards.

Hammon set school records for career points, points per game, field goals, field goal attempts, free throws made, free throws attempted, 3-pointers made, 3-pointers attempted, steals, and assists. She also set a WAC record for points and field goals made. 

She led the Rams to WAC Mountain Division Championships in 1998 and 1999 along with a WAC Championship in 1996. She led her teams to the WNIT in 1998 and NCAA tournament appearances in 1996, 1998, and 1999. In 1999, she led the Rams on a Sweet 16 run.

In addition to being inducted into the Colorado State Athletics Hall of Fame, her number 25 is also retired at the university. 

Hammon went undrafted in the 1999 WNBA draft but signed with the New York Liberty, where she spent eight seasons before being traded to the San Antonio Stars where she spent another eight seasons. She is a six-time WNBA All-Star and has been named All-WNBA First Team twice. After retiring as a player, she has continued to see success as a coach. In 2022, she coached the Las Vegas Aces to a WNBA Championship and was named the WNBA Coach of the Year.

Popovich, in addition to playing at the Air Force Academy, also started his storied coaching career there. Popovich attended the academy from 1966-1970 and, as a guard, started all four years for the Falcons.

During his senior season in 1969-1970 Popovich, as team captain, played all 24 games and led the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He shot 56% from the field, third-best on the team, and 80% from the free throw line, second-best on the team. The Falcons were not affiliated with a conference at the time and ended the season with a 12-12 overall record. It was the Academy’s best season since 1965-1966 and their second non-losing season since 1961-1962. Air Force only lost five home games that year. Four of the team’s losses were against ranked opponents, Colorado (10), Marquette (12), New Mexico State (6), and Utah State (20), each of which was an away game for the Falcons.’

Despite a pretty solid senior season, Popovich did not go on to play professional basketball, although he was eventually invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team trials. So, with his graduation in 1970, as his days playing for the Falcons came to a close, Popovich moved on from playing basketball. In fact, he considered pursuing a career in the Central Intelligence Agency before deciding to return to basketball as a coach. 

After serving his five years of required active duty in the United States Air Force, which included a tour of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, he returned to the Air Force Academy and joined the staff of head coach Hank Egan. Later, after Popovich’s career took off at an impressive trajectory, Egan would join Popovich’s staff in the San Antonio Spurs organization from 1994-2002.

Popovich was an assistant coach at Air Force from 1973-1979 during which the Falcons suffered three losing seasons and enjoyed three winning seasons while amassing a record of 79-73. As an assistant during that time, Popovich coached Thomas Schneeberger, who was taken by the Denver Nuggets in the 1978 NBA draft.

Hammon and Popovich are inextricably linked, not just as players or coaches, but as individuals. This made the simultaneous induction even more meaningful to the Mountain West Conference and its fans. Although their college days were separated by years, the universities they attended are separated only by about a hundred miles. Colorado State and Air Force are well acquainted. 

In 1999, after sharing conferences intermittently throughout their histories, the two schools, along with BYU, San Diego State, New Mexico, UNLV, Utah, and Wyoming, founded what would become a mid-major basketball juggernaut known as the Mountain West Conference, deepening the connection between Hammon and Popovich. 

Despite the Mountain West connection they share from their playing careers, their coaching careers are much more visibly linked. In 2014, Hammon got her first coaching job when she was hired onto Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs staff as an assistant coach. This made her the second-ever female coach in NBA history. On December 30th, 2020, Popovich was ejected from the game in the second quarter. Taking over for the remainder of the game, Hammon became the first female acting head coach in NBA history. 

The duo coached together at San Antonio for eight years. Together, they coached the team to five playoff appearances, the Western Conference Finals in 2016-2017, and the Western Conference Semifinals in 2015-2016.

Hammon and Popovich are two of the greatest basketball sentinels of all time. They are two of the most influential and important figures in recent history. Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy should be proud of these two individuals and their impact on the sport. The Mountain West Conference should be proud of these two schools and their impact on the sport.

It seems as though neither team has contributed much to the basketball prowess of the Mountain West. The two teams combine for just six NCAA tournament appearances since joining the Mountain West with a just single tournament victory belonging to Colorado State in 2013. However, they have both been valuable members and have contributed to the sport of basketball in lasting and significant ways that rival even top schools in the county. 

When two of the historically less successful teams in the league have produced Hall-of-Fame-worthy basketball titans like Hammon and Popovich, the depth of the conference and the rich unique history held by its member institutions becomes undeniable. The Mountain West stands out because each individual school and each individual fanbase has something immutable and tangible to be proud of in their hoops history. 

Hammon and Popovich being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a significant honor for their schools and for the entire Mountain West Conference. It strengthened the basketball ethos held by the institutions, validated the pride felt by the fans, and united the conference around a momentous history of unmatched basketball excellence.

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