Following Sundance Wicks’ departure from Green Bay’s men’s basketball program this offseason, the Phoenix elected to make an interesting hire earlier this week. You see, Doug Gottlieb, who is the main attraction on “The Doug Gottlieb Show” on the Fox Sports Radio, will take over for Wicks despite having minimal coaching experience. Gottlieb nearly landed the head coaching position with the Phoenix prior to the start of last season, but Wicks was the candidate who ultimately received an offer from the University. Now that Wicks is leading Wyoming men’s basketball program following a solid 2023-24 campaign in the Horizon League, Gottlieb felt compelled to throw his name back into the coaching mix at Green Bay.
This time around, however, Gottlieb succeeded in securing his first collegiate head coaching job with a program that hasn’t sniffed the postseason since 2019 (excluding the Horizon League Tournament, of course). During his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Gottlieb mentioned that the players “are what matters. The current players and the incoming players are what matters. How do I convince them? We are going to get into the gym and see what it’s like. There is no other way to do it. Get in the gym and see what it’s like.” Additionally, Gottlieb believes that he shouldn’t have a problem continuing his radio show while running a respected Division 1 basketball program, which was evident when he stated that “I think it works together great. This campus is beautiful. Do you think most people know how beautiful this campus is? …. Do you think that people know how pristine this campus is, that it has a view of the lake, how it’s set aside from the city and it’s clean? Of course not. That’s what the radio show works for. I’m not going to be able to do local Green Bay talk, but I am going to be able to talk about the Packers and I am going to be able to display how enjoyable it is to live in a special place.”
Gottlieb, who signed a five-year deal with the Phoenix, coached the United States team in 2009 and 2017 Maccabiah games (assistant in 2009 and head coach in 2017), but he’ll be facing a new challenge when he takes his talents to the mid-major Division 1 level. During his playing days, Gottlieb was an exceptional point guard at Oklahoma State in the late 90’s. He wasn’t a high-level shot-maker for the Cowboys, but the 6-foot-1 guard could distribute the ball with the best of them during his collegiate career (he ranked 1st in assists per game in the Big 12 for three straight seasons). Gottlieb entered the sports media field a few years after he graduated from Oklahoma State and has been thriving in the industry for over 20 years. While it’s certainly strange that Green Bay opted to go in this direction, the college basketball community should give Gottlieb an opportunity to demonstrate that he was the correct hire before passing judgement.
