Popovich

San Clemente High School teacher and coach Marc Popovich, right, with Sports Jeopardy! host Dan Patrick. Courtesy photo

Local high school coach Marc Popovich displays sports knowledge on game show

By Steve Breazeale

On Dec. 24, San Clemente High School teacher and head basketball coach Marc Popovich flexed his sports knowledge on the new online game show Sports Jeopardy!. On the Dec. 24 edition of the show, Popovich bested two other competitors to take home the $5,000 first-place prize.

Popovich’s 21,050 points collected during the show is currently the third-highest total of all competitors. If he remains in the top-3 throughout the season, Popovich could play for the season ending $50,000 grand prize.

Popovich’s match came down to Final Jeopardy!, with one contestant within striking distance of him. Luckily for the basketball coach, the clue for the final question was “NBA Records.” Popovich wagered the right amount and answered the question correctly to earn the win.

Although he doesn’t think his point total will hold up over the course of the show’s season, Popovich said he enjoyed the process, even if it means having to hear from a few armchair quarterbacks who would have used a different strategy.

“I’ve had some friends come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Why didn’t you wager more on the daily double and wager it all in final jeopardy, you could be in the lead’, but I just say, ‘Hey I won, leave me alone,” Popovich joked. “It was great. It was a really cool experience.”

The Dec. 24 episode has been archived here on the Sports Jeopardy! website.