All eyes of the college basketball world turned to Green Bay, Wisconsin as the reports surfaced that the Green Bay Phoenix were hiring Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb to be its next men’s basketball head coach, the 10th in program history.
Gottlieb was born in Wisconsin, while his late father was the head coach at Milwaukee. He would go onto play at Notre Dame, and then Oklahoma State finishing his career 10th all time in the NCAA in assists. Gottlieb has interviewed for several head coach vacancies prior to being hired by the Phoenix, including being a finalist for the same job prior to the school hiring Sundance Wicks last spring. First reported by Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney, before being confirmed by Scott Venci of the Green Bay Press Gazette, among others, and then by Gottlieb himself on his radio program.
On his radio show, Gottlieb says he believes the program will be successful and is grateful to have a chance to coach. He aims to make the team greater as a unit than they would be individually and for the players to have fun, and the fans to have coming to watch the team. His top 3 goals as a coach: 1. Get the full roster to stay here, 2. “Go get some good ones” to fill the roster, 3. Raise some money for the program, 4. Get Jordan Love to ride his bike at Packers training camp. Gottlieb has already been in contact with Phoenix legend Jeff Nordgaard, saying he was a massive fan of the program, rooting heavily against Jason Kidd and the California Golden Bears when Green Bay upset Cal in 1994.
In the press release, AD Josh Moon said:””He has been working towards this moment his entire life – coaching is in his blood and he will help us continue to RISE!” The press release from the University had positive words from many nationally known coaches such as Tom Izzo, Fran McCaffery, Shaka Smart, Chris Beard, as well as media colleagues Brian Anderson (play by play for the Milwaukee Brewers and TNT), Scott Van Pelt (ESPN), and Colin Cowherd (Fox Sports). Gottlieb will be continuing his radio show with Fox Sports while coaching.
Green Bay and Gottlieb will hold a press conference Tuesday at 10AM CT to introduce Gottlieb as head coach. Tune into YouTube to catch it live.
