Longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Darius Songalia leaving team

Songalia hopes to land the head coaching gig for his native Lithuanian National Team.

At the same time that the San Antonio Spurs‘ front office is adding coaches to the organization at the G League level, there is also some turnover with the parent team’s bench of assistant coaches. Per a recent report by NBC News 4 San Antonio’s Dusty Garza, longtime assistant Spurs coach Darius Songalia has elected to step down from that role.

A six-year veteran of iconic San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich‘s coaching staff, Songalia reportedly may have his eyes on a major role elsewhere. According to Garza, the “former Lithuanian national team star has been speaking to various portals about taking over Lithuania’s national team as its new head coach.”

“We reached the end of the road, and it was time to change the situation, as I had no opportunities to move up,” said Songalia. “I no longer wanted to just sit on the second assistant bench.”

“The first ‘Spurs’ bench assistants all have four-year contracts, so I had no chance to advance,” he added. “We talked about this with Pop.”

“And he said it would be better for me to change something, as there would be no room to advance with this team. We decided together that I would leave.”

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