It’s safe to say a 4-28 record was not the season the first-year head coach Doug Gottlieb envisioned for his Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball program in 2024-25.
The crescendo of their woes was a loss against Division II team Michigan Tech.
Poor rebounding and untimely injuries compounded a poor season into a disastrous one.
Any Positives from Last Season?
“The spirit of the guys, the connectivity of the team, despite the fact we really struggled,” said Gottlieb. “It actually was a lot of good, we felt like if we could just get healthy at the end of the year.”
Another positive is implementing their style of play.
“I’m a believer in five-out basketball,” said Gottlieb. “Spacing, cutting and having superior ball movement.”
For 2025-26, Gottlieb wants the Phoenix to play at a faster pace, something they couldn’t do last year because of rebounding issues.
Green Bay Getting National Attention
Gottlieb is no stranger to being in the public eye, hosting The Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio, along with coaching his team.
Gottlieb sits at just under 270,000 followers on X/Twitter.
He didn’t mince his words when talking about how people online/the media talk about Green Bay basketball.
“People don’t actually pay attention,” said Gottlieb after giving context of close games/injuries that he felt people failed to mention when talking about his team. “They want to kick the shit out of you when you’re down, and if you’re up they want to say, ‘I knew it all along.’”
Gottlieb said he learned not to take social media personally, and hesitantly said he does a “pretty good job of it.”
In the middle of last year’s trials and tribulations, Gottlieb found himself in a short X/Twitter back-and-forth with popular NFL insider Adam Schefter. Schefter’s reply to Gottlieb simply put, blew up.
“I thought my players and administrators were blown away by how many people care about our story, and they’re good with it,” said Gottlieb. “You created attention where people are talking about Green Bay basketball who would never be talking about Green Bay basketball, and I view that as a good thing.”
Rivalry with Milwaukee
Gottlieb said his team had seven goals written for the upcoming season, one of which was to beat Milwaukee.
“We all have social media, we all know what their assistant coach said, and we all remember,” said Gottlieb. “I have respect for what [Bart Lundy] does, and he does a great job crafting their schedule. They play really hard and really physical.”
The Phoenix lost both of their games against the Lundy-led Panthers last season.
“The respect has not been mutual by the entirety of the staff,” said Gottlieb.
He said after their second matchup last season, some of the Milwaukee staff reached out and complimented the growth of the team “in a non-condescending way.”
First Taste of the Horizon League
When taking over the job in 2024, Gottlieb said he was told the Horizon League was going to be offensively dominant.
After his first season, he didn’t think that was the case.
“No two teams play the same way,” said Gottlieb. “Our league is just this eclectic mish-mosh.”
Gottlieb said he thought the conference was physical, experienced and well-coached.
Another focus during the offseason was assembling a more experienced roster to compete with the older Horizon League teams.
Recruitment
In what has become commonplace in much of college basketball, Green Bay has a lot of new faces around for the 2025-26 campaign.
Green Bay gained a lot of talent from lower levels of college basketball, rather than higher levels.
“Guys that are not entitled, guys that have something to prove, those are the type of guys that win at Green Bay,” said Gottlieb.
A big focus on recruiting this year from Green Bay was on character.
“Dick Bennett is the greatest coach to ever coach Green Bay. He spent a lot of time with us and said, ‘The better the kid, the more they will improve,’ and that’s really true,” said Gottlieb. “Character over talent every time, but let’s not kid ourselves, you still have to have talent.”
Newcomers
This season, Justin Allen looks to bring a scoring punch to the Phoenix. Allen transferred from D-III Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, where he averaged 25.4 points per game a year ago.
“He’s really eager to prove himself, he’s so grateful to be here, grateful for the opportunity,” said Gottlieb. “Without a question our hardest worker.”
Gottlieb described newcomer LeBron Thomas as “tougher than hell.” Thomas averaged 14.3 points, 5.8 assists and four rebounds for Vincennes University in Indiana last season.
Green Bay also recruited the talents of 28-year-old Ramel Bethea.
The forward will be the oldest Division I college basketball player, according to CBS Sports.
After five years in the Navy and some encouragement from people around him, Bethea chose to play basketball competitively. He attended and played basketball for MiraCosta Community College in California.
Bethea captured the interest of many Division I schools after averaging 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
“He just makes us different,” said Gottlieb. “He can defend and finish at the rim, he has great length, great hands, and everything is very new to him.”
Gottlieb said the “secret” of their recruiting class was Vukasin Todorovic. He described the 21-year-old Slovenian addition as a 6-foot-9 point forward.
Returners
Gottlieb anticipates a big year for Marcus Hall, after he played out of position last year.
“If Marcus Hall isn’t an all-league player, then something’s wrong,” said Gottlieb about the junior and returning leading scorer. “We feel like he’s going to have a big year.”
Preston Ruedinger returns as a redshirt senior and is the “unquestioned leader.”
“His goal with LeBron Thomas is to have the best defensive backcourt in the league,” said Gottlieb.
Lessons Learned
Gottlieb has already made many adjustments from last season.
Changes to his staff, how he organizes his day, how his team practices and scheduling adjustments (less travel/more time between games) are some of the differences.
“We changed the way we’ve done everything all in (an) adjustment to learn your lessons from last year and be better because of it,” said Gottlieb. “In one million ways, I’m much better and a much more prepared coach.”
Goals
“We want to be the biggest turnaround in the country, biggest win increase in the country, and I think that’s doable, especially when you win four,” said Gottlieb. “My desire is for other coaches in our league to feel like we are the most improved, we are the most physical.”
Along with beating Milwaukee, the other goals for the upcoming season shoot high.
They include winning their preseason tournament, being undefeated at home, winning the Horizon League, winning the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re just excited to put it all together,” said Gottlieb. “Some days it looks really good, other days it looks like a work in progress, but we get Kansas November 3 and Buffalo November 7, that’s our focus right now.”
Despite wanting a big turnaround in his second season in charge, Gottlieb made it known he sees a long-term future with the program.
“We’re trying to build a sustainable model here in Green Bay, and I think this is the way to do it,” said Gottlieb. “This is not a short-term quick fix; this is not like we’re trying to sell the company and move on.”
This is very insightful for the upcoming season for the GB men’s basketball. I’m excited to catch some of their games.
Great article Jack!