Greatest Coach Ever?

The San Antonio Spurs have been the most consistent franchise in all of sports over the past two decades. They have built champions from the ground up. From David Robinson to Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker and now the 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs have structured one of the rarest foundations to winning a championship. The mastermind behind it all Gregg Popovich, just collected his 1,000 win Monday night against the Indiana Pacers.

From being a player at the Air Force Academy in the late 60's to becoming a five-time NBA Champion, Coach Pop put his name in the record books with some of the all-time great coaches. With five championships under his belt and now 1,000 wins. Is Popovich the greatest coach to ever walk the sidelines of an NBA court? 

Spurs fans may argue that he is. Popovich has had an amazing career. Nobody can take anything away from him. The thing about Popovich is can he even be considered the best coach of his time? He is hands down the best coach in the NBA right now, but the name Phil Jackson comes into play when you talk about the best coach in the past 20 years. 

Jackson and Popovich's teams have gone head to head many times in to 2000's while Jackson was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Both men won five titles a piece with each team. The difference is Jackson won six titles in the previous decade with the Bulls. The Lakers were named the 2000's "Team of the Decade", by Sports Illustrated. You could argue that the Spurs have a huge shot at that title with three rings and Tim Duncan. Duncan and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant are a toss-up for player of the decade.

Former Lakers coach Pat Riley and Red Auerbach who coached the Boston Celtics during the Bill Russell era are also names that come into mind as the greatest coaches ever. Riley has one five titles as a head coach, four with the Lakers(1980's) and one with the Heat(2006). Auerbach won 9 titles all with the Celtics in the 50's-60's. 

You could make the argument that there is no such title as "the greatest coach ever". Every decade there has been a dominant team coached by a legendary man. Red had coached Russell. Riley had Magic and Kareem; Jackson had MJ, Pippen, Kobe and Shaq. And Popovich had coached Robinson and now has Duncan and Parker. All of these players are in the Hall or going to be inshrined in Springfield. I believe as a basketball fan, that there is only one coach you can label the "greatest" and that would be Phil Jackson.