SAN ANTONIO, TX (Nov. 10, 2020) – The Austin Spurs today announced that Matt Nielsen has been named head coach of San Antonio’s G League affiliate. At the same time, the team announced that Tyler Self has been promoted to general manager.
Nielsen, who spent last season as an assistant coach for Austin, becomes the seventh head coach in Austin Spurs history.
Before making the move to Austin, Nielsen, a native of Australia, spent four seasons (2015-19) as an assistant coach with the NBL’s Perth Wildcats where he helped guide the team to three NBL championships. Nielsen began his coaching career in San Antonio, serving as a player development assistant during the 2014-15 season. In addition, he was an assistant coach with San Antonio’s summer league team from 2014-19.
As a 17-year-old, Nielsen made his professional debut with the Sydney Kings in 1995. After nine seasons in the NBL, where he won two championships and was named MVP in 2004, Nielsen moved to Europe, playing nine seasons in Lithuania, Greece and Spain.
Nielsen was a member of the Australian National Team from 1997-2012. He represented the Boomers at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and helped guide Australia to the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA Under-21 World Championship.
Self takes over as general manager after serving as Austin’s assistant general manager last season. After joining the organization in the summer of 2017, Self spent two seasons as a quality assurance assistant in San Antonio’s basketball operations department. He came to the Spurs after graduating from the University of Kansas, where he earned his degree in sport management and played on the Jayhawks basketball team (2012-17). During his time at Kansas, he advanced to two NCAA Elite Eights (2016, 2017), won four Big 12 regular-season championships and two Big 12 Conference Tournaments (2013, 2016).
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