Robert Canterbury Buford (born May 16, 1960) is an American basketball executive who is the CEO of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He was named general manager in 2002 after five seasons serving as team president. Buford is also the president of sports franchises for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. Buford has won the

NBA Executive of the Year The NBA Executive of the Year is an annual award in the National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1972–73 NBA season, to the league's best general manager (basketball), general manager, president of basketball/business operatio ...

award twice, for the 2013–14 and 2015–16 seasons, before his promotion to CEO prior to the start of the 2019–20 season.

Early life

Buford's father, Bob, was a successful oilman and rancher in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. Buford spent two seasons as a walk-on for the Texas A&M Aggies. He transferred to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in 1980. Buford sat out the 1980–81 season and then suffered eight broken ribs in a car crash, ending his playing career. Buford graduated from

Friends University Friends University is a Private university, private Nondenominational Christianity, nondenominational Christian university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1898. The main building was originally built in 1886 for Garfield Uni ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in management.

Coaching career

Buford started his coaching career in 1983 as an assistant with the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

. He spent five seasons with the team 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 The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

. He spent one season with the Clippers before moving to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

for the 1993–94 season.

NBA executive career

Spurs general manager

Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball executive and former coach who is the president for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the List of current NBA head co ...

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 in 1999 was promoted to the position of assistant general manager. He was named general manager in 2002. Buford has won five NBA championships with the Spurs (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

), four as general manager (

). Buford won the 2013–14 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year award on May 7, 2014, and later won the same honor for the 2015–16 season. On July 23, 2019, the Spurs announced Buford will be promoted from general manager to CEO for the Spurs, effective September 3. His previous role will be filled by assistant general manager Brian Wright.

Personal life

His son Chase played basketball for the

and was the head coach of the NBL team, the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

. He is currently an assistant coach at Kansas. His daughter C.C., who played golf for the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th-oldest institution of higher lea ...

, now coaches at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

. Buford met Bill Self when he served as Self's host during a recruiting visit at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in 1981. Buford has called Self his best friend.

References

External links

General Managers

– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buford, R. C. 1960 births Living people Friends University alumni Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball coaches Los Angeles Clippers assistant coaches NBA general managers Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players San Antonio Spurs assistant coaches San Antonio Spurs executives Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen