Felton riding high with Spurs, feels ‘pull’ of coaching

Dennis Felton went deep in his closet before talking to campers at the Chick-fil-A Foundation sports camp Thursday at Morehouse.

“This is the first time I’ve worn this Spurs shirt in a while,” Felton said shortly after standing to address the 100-plus campers. “You want to know why I chose to wear it today? I felt like showing off.”

Felton flashed a smile and kids laughed. The Spurs are playing the Heat in the NBA Finals and Felton, a former University of Georgia coach, is playfully boasting about his part in their latest championship bid.

The year after he was dismissed as Georgia coach in 2009, Felton was hired as San Antonio’s director of pro personnel. He evaluates free agents and trade targets and makes recommendations on acquisitions.

Lately, though, Felton said he’s felt the sideline calling him back. Some recent inquiries from schools looking for coaches only increased the itch.

“I started to get the pull in this last year,” Felton said. “I have some interest in getting back. Old Dominion and Chattanooga were two (schools) that reached out to me. That process kind of got the juices flowing a little more.”

In his current job, Felton is far removed from the games on the court — he spends a lot of his time traveling from his home in Milton to various cities evaluating players.

With the Spurs, Felton is with an organization with a knack for finding value in players that other teams overlooked. Two such players, Danny Green and Gary Neal, signed with San Antonio as free agents in recent years and now are playing key roles in the Finals.

The Hawks hired general manager Danny Ferry and coach Mike Budenholzer away from the Spurs. Felton said the two should help model the Hawks after San Antonio.

“Atlanta doesn’t have Tim Duncan,” Felton said, referring to the long-time Spurs star. “But Danny Ferry with his leadership and with ‘Bud’ coaching the team, things are looking very, very good for Atlanta now.”

But Felton said he misses “the leading, the competitive part” of coaching. Plus, Felton is just one cog in the Spurs’ machine and said he’d like to get back to calling the shots from the bench.

“I’m a role player on a team versus being the lead decision-maker,” he said. “I’ve certainly enjoyed the pace, but in the last year, I started to feel the tug again.”

It makes sense because this has been Felton’s only break from coaching since he graduated from Howard, where he played basketball. He was an assistant at Delaware, Tulane, St. Joseph’s, Providence and Clemson before taking over as head coach at Western Kentucky in 1998.

Georgia hired Felton in 2003 in the wake of NCAA probation for rules violations that occurred under Jim Harrick. With Felton the program got its academics and NCAA compliance back in order and played in two NIT tournaments before making a memorable run to the 2008 SEC tournament title.

The Bulldogs fired Felton during the next season. Felton recruits such as Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie helped the Bulldogs make it back to the NCAA tournament in 2011, and the academic progress he helped set in motion has continued.

“I was really proud of the work we did on both sides, the basketball side and the academic success,” Felton said. “We had success Georgia has not really had in the modern era in the classroom. That’s always been a real critical part for me.”

Felton’s coaching instincts and focus on education were apparent during his speech to the campers.