R. C. Buford

R. C. Buford is the general manager of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team. He was given the title by his predecessor, Gregg Popovich, in 2002 after five seasons as team president. He is also the president of sports franchises for Spurs Sports & Entertainment.

Buford played college basketball at Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, though had a limited career. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2007-05-21-cover-buford_N.htm The Buford Way: Spurs' architect stays in shadows - USATODAY.com ] ] He received his degree from Friends University. [ [http://www.sloansportsconference.com/paneltitle.htm MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference: Panels ] ] Prior to joining the Spurs in 1988, Buford spent five seasons at the University of Kansas and was a member of the coaching staff when the Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA Championship.

Buford first joined the Spurs in the summer of 1988 as an Assistant Coach on Larry Brown's staff. He spent four seasons as an assistant with the Spurs, including the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons when the team captured back-to-back Midwest Division Titles. In the summer of 1992 he became the number one assistant for Brown with the Los Angeles Clippers. He spent one season with the Clippers before moving to the University of Florida for the 1993-94 season. Popovich then hired Buford as the Spurs Head Scout in the summer of 1994 and he has been with the team since that time. In the summer of 1997 he was named the Spurs Director of Scouting and then two years later was promoted to the position of Vice President/Assistant General Manager.

Buford has won three NBA championships as general manager of the Spurs (2003, 2005 and 2007).

His son, Chase Buford, plays basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks.

References

External links

* [http://www.hoopshype.com/general_managers/rc_buford.htm General Managers]
* [http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2004/04/26/daily18.html Spurs promote R.C. Buford to senior vice president]