With the retirement of Gregg Popovich last season, Erik Spoelstra has taken the top spot in terms of seniority in the NBA as he has been on the same bench, that of Miami, since 2008. And in the past few hours, he has even become the reference in this field in American sport, that is if we add the NFL (American football), the NHL (ice hockey) and the MLB (baseball).
Indeed, Mike Tomlin, coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL, has decided to leave after 19 seasons in charge of his franchise. “It depressed me,” reacted the Heat coach to this news.
This comes a few days after the dismissal of John Harbaugh, also in the NFL, who was the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens since 2008 and for 18 seasons. In the American football league, the oldest coach is now Andy Reid, present at the Kansas City Chiefs since 2013.
As he lamented the turnover of coaches in the NBA in October 2024, stating that it was “sad for coaching,” there was no expectation to see the Miami coach congratulating himself on being the last of the Mohicans.
“I would prefer not to be. Some might see this as a medal, an honor. I see it as a disappointment for this profession, that there are not more coaches given the chance to work despite the difficulties,” insists the two-time NBA champion (2012 and 2013).
