Chris Kent didn’t arrive in Austin with a splashy introduction or a long track record as a head coach. What he did bring was the kind of presence the Spurs trust.
Before San Antonio’s “home” game against the Houston Rockets at Moody Center in October, Mitch Johnson summed up why Kent fit the organization. “(We) felt like he was one of our type of people,” Johnson said.
That mattered to the Spurs, who named Kent their 12th head coach in early September. Familiar faces helped, too. Kent spent the 2022-23 season with the G League’s Windy City Bulls under Billy Donovan Sr. - now the Spurs’ lead assistant - and worked alongside Billy Donovan III in the video room.
“I’ve been around Coach Donovan for years,” Kent said. “He’s a mentor of mine ... it’s good to see him around when we’re in San Antonio. BD3 and I were in the trenches together.”
Kent’s path to Austin also included two years as an assistant for the Rip City Remix in Portland, then a return to Florida State last year as an assistant coach and director of player development. Under Luke Loucks, another Florida State alum entering his second season in Tallahassee, Kent helped the Seminoles go 18-15.
“Coach Loucks is so important to my story,” Kent said. “The reason I coach is to help people achieve their dreams and goals the same way that people help me achieve mine.”
That background showed quickly when Austin opened its season Friday against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Kent had never been a head coach before, but the Spurs came away with a 120-116 win behind Ochai Agbaji’s 29 points in his Austin debut.
Kent pointed to veterans like Agbaji, Jon Elmore, Terry Taylor, R.J. Davis and others as part of the group shaping the team’s culture. For him, the value of that experience is simple: players who have already lived through the grind know how to steady things when the game tightens up.
“It’s like in college, when you have seniors compared to freshmen,” Kent said. “When things get tight and adversity hits, they’re coming together because they’ve been through it.”
He doesn’t love calling that advantage “easier,” but he’ll call it “better.”
“It’s a lot better doing this when you have a group of people that enjoy being around each other,” Kent said, speaking on the human aspect of coaching he likes to focus on.
That approach runs through everything he wants Austin to be. He said training camp was about cleaning up offensive and defensive schemes, but the bigger ask is about effort and connection.
“We want to hang our hats on being the hardest playing team,” Kent said. “The most connected team. If we do that every night, we should be in a pretty good spot every game.”
Before Austin’s season began, Kent also spent time around the Spurs’ NBA roster in San Antonio with Elmore, Davis, Taelon Peter, Malik Williams, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown, all of whom signed training camp or two-way contracts. That stretch gave him a chance to lean on Donovan, Johnson and assistant coach Scott King, who coached the Austin Spurs two years ago, while also building relationships with the players he’ll work with in the G League and those in San Antonio.
Devin Vassell, another Florida State basketball alum, was happy to see Kent land the job.
“I’m happy for him,” Vassell said. “Excited for him.
I’ve got my young boys down there. Hopefully they do some good stuff for him.”
Asked whether Austin was in good hands with a former Seminole, Vassell didn’t hesitate: “Yeah, you know that.”
Kent is aware of the odd rhythm of the G League, where success can quickly send players and coaches elsewhere. He said there’s pride in being the third coach to lead Austin in as many years, but he’s staying focused on the present.
“It just goes back to pouring into every guy every single day,” Kent said. “Making sure they’re ready for their opportunity ... we all have goals and aspirations, but you focus where you’re at and you do a good job where you’re at. Everything in the future will take care of itself.”
Johnson, who won a championship with the Austin Spurs during the 2017-18 season after beginning his coaching career there under Blake Ahearn, said that kind of turnover is part of the business.
“We’re trying to grow staff members just like players,” Johnson said. “You wish you could keep all your players and staff for 15-year contracts, but typically when people leave, when they get plucked (or) when they get identified for other jobs, that’s usually a compliment.”
Kent said the Spurs’ family feel was obvious from the start. He had lunch with every head coach he could connect with and called Elmore to introduce himself and set the tone for the group.
“He’s a huge people person,” Elmore said. “He’s a dude you can talk to about anything.”
After that first win, Kent said the philosophy was easier to embrace, but he’s still measuring his job one day at a time.
“I don’t want to say I was ready for it,” Kent said, “but you’re always kind of prepared because this has been a goal of mine. I just leaned on the people that have done it before, (who) helped me get to this point ... an organization like this, it’s a special thing to be part of.”
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