Green Bay Phoenix Coach Doug Gottlieb has made the decision to temporarily step away from sports broadcasting to focus on his coaching duties.
Gottlieb was hired by the Phoenix in 2024 in a somewhat shocking move given the fact that the former point guard has never coached before. Green Bay is just a few seasons removed from a 20-win season, but Gottlieb has not been able to replicate such success. Currently, the coach is just 10-35 with the program after winning four games last season.
The decision for Gottlieb comes after the Phoenix improved to 6-7 on the year with a narrow 67-64 non-conference win over UC-Santa Barbara. The Phoenix have lost three games this season by less than ten points while turning the basketball over 11.2 times per game. One could certainly argue that Green Bay would be in a different position with just a few tweaks given the talent on the roster from top to bottom.
Gottlieb has reached a breaking point of sorts after throwing a chair two weeks ago during a difficult 80-78 loss to Robert Morris. Gottlieb stated the team “played like idiots” after blowing an 11-point lead in “embarrassing” fashion.
JUST IN: Doug Gottlieb is stepping away from his radio gig to focus on being a full-time division one head basketball coach for UW-Green Bay. He will still be doing the podcast.
Hear from an emotional Gottlieb on his decision to step away from the mic: pic.twitter.com/merWC7fL3X
— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) December 18, 2025
Gottlieb has been a sports broadcaster since 2002 after co-hosting the 2003 NBA draft on ESPN Radio in his first major role. The coach has been working with Fox Sports since 2017, but will only record his podcast when not on the court moving forward. Previously, the coach had been fulfilling both his broadcasting duties and his coaching duties at the same time.
How can Gottlieb fix the Green Bay Phoenix this Season?
Flipping the team around mid-season tends to be a difficult task, but for the Phoenix such a task might not be far out of reach. Green Bay is playing better basketball compared to last season but the players still continue to be their own worst enemies at the moment.
Green Bay nearly had a win secured over Robert Morris, but the offense collapsed with just eight points in over four minutes to end the game. The defense also allowed three of the eight Colonials’ three-pointers to be scored in the final four minutes. The Colonials also shot 35% from three-point range despite entering the game with a team average right around 30%.
On defense, the Phoenix will need to clamp down without fouling as finding a balance between playing physical and playing intelligent has been difficult. Losses to Robert Morris, Minnesota, and Yale came down to the extra trips to the foul line. Additionally, the losses were also a result of the team struggling to take care of the basketball.
Whether the issue is that the team is pushing to score and become careless, or just struggling to take care of the basketball in general, Green Bay needs to be more careful. 11.2 turnovers per game is good enough for sixth-best in the Horizon League Conference and 99th nationally. Phoenix is not exactly a team with a true killer instinct so losing valuable scoring opportunities to turnovers will truly haunt the team.
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