GREEN BAY – University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball coach Doug Gottlieb will continue to host his national radio show during the basketball season like he did his first year with the Phoenix in 2024-25.
But some changes are coming.
“We talked a little last year about do I want to do it on day of games? Do I want to do day before games?” Gottlieb said. “I would think I would probably dial back on day of games. Some of it is for optics, but a little bit of it is you just want to be fresh and resting.
“It’s weird, because game day, there is so much nervous energy because there is nothing to do. Now, look, if you haven’t done your homework, sure, I guess. But we are pretty well prepared, and we will be even better prepared next year.”
UWGB hired Gottlieb in May 2024 with the understanding that he would continue to host “The Doug Gottlieb Show” on Fox Sports Radio during the week.
It raised some eyebrows at the time from those who questioned how a person could have two full-time jobs and run an entire Division I basketball program.
Those questions only got louder when UWGB was one of the worst teams in the nation, finishing 4-28 overall and enduring a 21-game losing streak that included a home defeat to DII Michigan Tech.
Gottlieb caught the attention of some college basketball fans and national media outlets in February during Super Bowl week in New Orleans, when he was part of Radio Row early in the week before heading back to Green Bay.
The five-year contract Gottlieb signed with UWGB before last season included a conflict management plan in which no outside duties can interfere with his duties as basketball coach. He must adjust schedules and develop communication plans to provide required contact with the program during his engagement in outside activity.
UWGB monitored and evaluated the management plan and policies during the season. If it decided at any time the plan was not sufficient to manage conflicts or that it was not in the best interest of the school, it could ask Gottlieb to not continue his involvement in outside activity causing the conflict while employed at the school.
But any tweaks to his radio schedule are coming from Gottlieb.
UWGB athletic director Josh Moon never questioned Gottlieb’s efforts or the time he put into the program. He said he did not ask or require Gottlieb to stop doing radio or make any changes after the season ended.
“It’s in his court to figure out,” Moon said. “But I think he’s figured out this first year, the pace of the year, how you juggle that. Like a game day, for instance. There is for sure too much going on is what he is probably thinking.
“We’ve talked. Just seeing the pace of the year from the summer through the travel schedule through all that stuff, I think he’s figured out the sweet spot of what makes sense. That, ‘Hey, I need to take vacation days here.’ Or whatever that is. It’s an art to figure that out, and going through the first year, it helped a lot.”
Gottlieb said he will “make smart adjustments” when it comes to his radio duties.
“Part of it is, I share my nervous energy or my excited energy by doing the radio show,” he said. “I think we just have to be smarter about having time, to just take time, not just to coach but also to just get away. To turn it off.
“I am planning on a trip, and the big challenge is going to be, will I turn my phone off for the trip? Everybody says there is no way I will do it, but I swear I’m going to do it. I don’t know if I will get more than two days. But the phone is going to be off and nobody will find me for a couple days.”
Gottlieb has a trip planned for early August.
“You learn so much, and if you take notes and you process,” Gottlieb said. “Last year (during the offseason) we had eight weeks and then they go home, and we don’t start until September. This year, we are going to do seven weeks, and then we are going to do a week just before school and do hell week and really get them into shape.
“Then we are going to have a bunch of fun out on the water on Labor Day weekend. … Just do some team bonding stuff. Somewhere in between that seven weeks and that one week, you will not see me and not hear from me.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB men’s basketball coach Doug Gottlieb plans to ‘dial back’ game-day radio hosting duties
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
