Radio host-turned-D1 coach argued over playing ‘Nobody U’ then lost to Michigan Tech

On By Littum

The Doug Gottlieb experiment in Green Bay just went from bad to worse.

The outspoken radio host is in his first season as the head coach of the basketball team at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The hire drew plenty of attention when it happened, but things haven’t gone well through the first 13 games of the season.

Phoenix is ​​2-11 and in last place in the Horizon League, and on Wednesday afternoon they lost at home to Division II Michigan Tech, 72-70.

The loss comes a week after Gottlieb seemed to take a shot at smaller programs like the Huskies, a GLIAC team from Houghton in a remote part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“That’s why you have to schedule, like everybody else does, a couple of D2s early,” Gottlieb said while talking about his players’ confidence level and the difficulty of his schedule.

“Part of the reason I want to play better teams is because it’s 2 degrees outside and snowing. I don’t really like the idea of ​​’Nobody U’ coming in here. I’ve always thought, ‘What we to play a game where we win by 20?’ But there is a method to it. I will have to adjust forward to the schedule.”

Whoa.

Not only did Green Bay not win by 20, it lost by two.

Gottlieb, a former player at Notre Dame and Oklahoma State, went on to say that “everyone on our schedule is a loseable game,” but he probably didn’t think that included Tech.

The comments, made after Green Bay’s loss to Milwaukee on Dec. 11, combined with the loss to Michigan Tech, have led to widespread news coverage.

Gottlieb went to X to clear the air that he wasn’t referring to Michigan Tech specifically, but the Huskies are the only Division II team on the schedule.

“Stop that shit,” he said. “We’ve scheduled. Including Michigan Tech. Nowhere, ever, have I been critical of anyone on our schedule. Now back to work.”

The host of The Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio was scheduled to be on the air within an hour of the end of Wednesday’s loss, but he did not appear.

Michigan Tech is 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the GLIAC. Green Bay’s next game is at undefeated Drake on Saturday.