Doug Gottlieb is returning to the college basketball ranks, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay announced on Tuesday he would be taking over as their head coach.
Gottlieb, the Fox Sports Radio host, will inherit a Phoenix squad that had an 18-14 record last season under former coach Sundance Wicks.
Wicks just departed for Wyoming on a five-year deal.
Gottlieb said in a press release that it was an “honor to be the 10th coach” of the Phoenix.
In an interview with “Inside Wisconsin,” Gottlieb added that many of the players from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Plains are mid-major player players who want to play close to home rather than constantly dealing with agents and managers with the major teams.
“We’re going to be in the portal with NIL, and that’s a huge part of it,” Gottlieb added. “But there still is a ‘This is the way it used to be, and it could be really cool.'”
Gottlieb’s contract details are not yet known, but the move is at least somewhat surprising, considering he has zero coaching experience at the collegiate level.
“People who know me and know the sport in depth, it’s more me choosing to go in than it is the school giving me an opportunity since i haven’t coached in college,” Gottlieb told Inside Wisconsin. “In regards to the actual coaching and X’s and O’s of it, I have coached more games in the last seven years than anyone in America. Because when you coach AAU games, with my sons playing in different levels, I have coached 10 to 16 games in a weekend.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that’s as in-depth at coaching as coaching division one in the Horizon but what it does do especially to those of us who can process every moment, it’s like speed dating.”Â
Gottlieb was a prolific college basketball player in the late 1990s and is the all-time assists leader for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
He was kicked out of Notre Dame after his freshman year for stealing his classmate’s credit card.
Gottlieb is best known for being a media personality these days, most recently for FOX Sports, while also having worked with the Pac-12 Network, CBS Sports and ESPN.
He reportedly will still host his radio show, per ESPN.
As far as coaching accolades go, Gottlieb led Team USA to a gold medal in 2017 and 2022 as the head coach during the Maccabiah Games, an international event for Jewish athletes and any citizen of Israel.
He has also done some coaching in the AAU ranks.
He also runs Branch West Basketball, a Southern California youth developmental basketball program originally started by his father, Bob Gottlieb.
Gottlieb was born in Milwaukee, approximately two hours away from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Gottlieb, 48, was a runner-up for the job in Green Bay in 2023 before it went to Wicks.
With Wicks departing after a successful first season where he won 15 more games after inheriting a 3-24 roster, Gottlieb is now tasked with further improvement.
The Phoenix have won the Horizon League once since 1996.
