We all stand ready to eat our words if the Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball program eventually enjoys success under Doug Gottlieb. However, it has been a disaster thus far, as Gottlieb simultaneously hosts his weekday afternoon radio show while coaching Green Bay to an overall record of 2-23, with no wins in Horizon League play (0-14). As of Thursday, February 13, they sit at No. 340 in the KenPom rankings, holding the worst team record in Division I.
Throughout this tumultuous season, Gottlieb has remained defiant, engaging in social media battles, including one with Adam Schefter, and demanding “a mea culpa from every f*cking one of you” critics when his team finally starts winning. He acknowledges that he took over a program lacking experience and plagued by injuries that made victories nearly impossible, but he also admits mistakes have been made.
Brian Hamilton profiled the radio host/head coach for The Athletic this week, prompting Gottlieb to reflect on his regrets. When asked about them, he replied, “Oh, a million of them.” He wishes he had hired both a personal assistant and an experienced staff member familiar with the Horizon League. Gottlieb spent the summer implementing “no-middle” defensive strategies but scrapped them upon realizing his team’s lack of athleticism. He also recognized that his complex offensive concepts were too advanced for players unfamiliar with terms like “usage rate.” Furthermore, he acknowledged he would have preferred to text Adam Schefter rather than create a conflagration on X while driving home.
One of his biggest misfires was overscheduling, which placed his team at a significant disadvantage as they aimed to improve. “For a first-year coach to play the hardest or second-hardest schedule in the league and to face no Division III teams along with a strong Division II team made up of local talent – that’s stupid,” he commented about the loss to Michigan Tech, a team he referred to as “Nobody U.” He expressed that perhaps he could have said less to avoid that situation, which is a challenging perspective for a combative radio host to embrace.
Although Gottlieb remains outwardly defiant and believes this will ultimately work out, he did confess to Hamilton that he experiences moments of doubt. “It’s not earth-shattering to say there are points in which you question, should I have done this? Like, what am I doing? I could just be chilling, being an average person doing radio, collecting checks, working three hours a day… At the end of the day, I’m a head coach. I got a radio show. We’ve got plenty of time to fix this. We’re all focused on the right things. We’re getting better. There will be better days,” he stated.
