Can Mike Budenholzer Bring Spurs Brand of Success to Atlanta Hawks?

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, Mike Budenholzer, assistant coach to Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, has been hired by the Atlanta Hawks to be the team's new head coach for the 2013-14 season.

The longtime Spurs assistant will continue on with the Spurs through the NBA Finals and will join the Hawks following the end of the season.

Budenholzer has been an assistant with the Spurs for 19 seasons, starting with a stint as the team's video coordinator back in 1994.

He was promoted to assistant coach in 1996, the same season that Pop would take over as the team's head coach. Budenholzer has been working alongside Popovich ever since.

For years now the San Antonio front office and coaching staff have been a breeding ground of sorts. A year hardly goes by without a Spurs assistant coach or front office member getting at least an interview with another team.

Popovich has ties to multiple teams and other head coaches around the NBA.

Mike Brown, P.J. Carlesimo and Vinny Del Negro are former assistants; Avery Johnson, Doc Rivers, Danny Ferry and Dell Demps are former players, while Sam Presti, Kevin Pritchard, Rob Hennigan, Ferry, Dennis Lindsey and Lance Blanks come from San Antonio's front office. 

It's a wonder Budenholzer has lasted this long without getting nabbed by another team.

Via Windhorst, Popovich expressed his gratitude toward Budenholzer and seemed convinced that he would be an effective head coach for the Hawks. He even went as far as to call him a "co-head coach":

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I couldn't be happier for Mike for many reasons. As anyone who's been part of this program knows, he has been more of a co-head coach than an assistant for a long time. His knowledge of the game as well as his ability to teach and develop relationships with players are all special. I will miss him a great deal both professionally and personally and am confident that he and Danny will make a great team as the future unfolds.

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It seems to be a solid bet that Budenholzer will be successful with the Hawks, especially as he teams up with former Spurs Vice President of Basketball Operations Danny Ferry.

Budenholzer has had 17 years to marinate and learn from Popovich, every ounce of basketball knowledge absorbing into him through the years.

Not only has he been with the team through the injury-plagued 1997 season (which landed the Spurs Tim Duncan), but he's also learned from Pop in the early 2000s how to coach a league-leading defense, and how to run an offense in the more up-tempo days of late.

More important than any of that, he's learned what it takes to create a culture of winning around a team by championing teamwork and lampooning selfishness as Pop has done for over a decade.

He's learned from the best how to be a stern but fair head coach, that getting a player to respect you through success is more important than being friendly with one.

Via Windhorst, Tony Parker spoke about San Antonio's relationship with Budenholzer, and how he thinks Bud will do with Atlanta:

"Mike Budenholzer has been extremely important to our success in San Antonio," Spurs star point guard Tony Parker said. "He is a great coach. I think the Hawks made an excellent choice and I'm very happy for Coach Bud."

There is no other active coach in the NBA who has claimed four NBA championships or multiple Coach of the Year awards, so it's hard to say that there's somebody better to learn under.

The Hawks are in a rebuilding situation, so it's entirely likely that the first year or two could be rough. 

However, if they are smart about building their team and have the utmost confidence behind Budenholzer, and Ferry for that matter, there's no reason to believe that they won't be successful.