Green Bay Phoenix head basketball coach Doug Gottlieb went off about officiating in a wild postgame press conference on Sunday after a 75-72 loss at Milwaukee.
Gottlieb, who stepped away from Fox Sports Radio duties in December, was absolutely livid about being called for a technical foul late in the second half of the loss.
“I need the (Horizon) league to explain to me why I got a technical foul when I did not curse, I was not demonstrative, I did not leave my box,” Gottlieb said. “All I said was, ‘That’s the same play as the other end.’ All we ask is that there’s a fair game. That’s what we ask. C.J. O’Hara goes and gets an offensive rebound, their player dives at his legs, C.J. gets called for a foul. I need (Horizon League Coordinator of Men’s Basketball Officials Donnie Eppley) and the new commissioner (Jill Bodensteiner) to explain to me the disparity in the officiating. That’s what I need explained to me.”
“I need somebody to explain to me how just those two; there’s others that I have massive issues with, including every time we touched them there was a foul in the second half,” Gottlieb continued. “The last play in the game, just to get the ball, they were grabbing us and holding us. Again, I understand, if you’re not calling that, that’s fine.”
Gottlieb proceeded to slam the desk four times and drop an F-bomb, while knocking the mic over.
“You had the exact same play at both ends in the last play of the game,” Gottlieb explained. “The exact same f*cking play! The exact same play!”
Full video with better quality of Doug Gottlieb’s postgame rant: pic.twitter.com/MuaNWITozv
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“So, I need the new commissioner of the Horizon League to explain to me what a technical foul is when I don’t leave the box, I don’t curse, I’m not demonstrative,” Gottlieb elaborated. “There was nothing, nothing that should have been called a technical foul. I know when I earn one. I did not earn one. And the C.J. play, we’re up six points, that dramatically changed the trajectory of the game. He’s our best defender, he’s one of our best players, he picked up his fourth foul collecting an offensive rebound when a guy falls into his legs. All we ever ask is fair.”
“It’s the exact same play as the other end; could not be more similar,” Gottlieb added. “And yet every time they drove in there it was a foul, and every time we did it was mixed.”
A reporter asked Gottlieb if he received any explanation on the officiating.
“Nope,” Gottlieb responded. “Nope. King Whetstone called the technical foul. He avoided me the rest of the game. That’s not right. I was not combative in any way. I did not curse one single time. I was not on the court one single time. I was not out of my box one single time. I was not on the court one single time. You tell me. That’s all I’m asking. Anyway, what else?”
“Sorry I cursed,” Gottlieb told the media as he walked out.
Gottlieb threw a chair after a Green Bay loss in December and addressed it the next day on one of the final editions of The Doug Gottlieb Show, saying, “I gotta contain my frustration… I acted like a petulant child.”
And earlier this month, Gottlieb went on a rant about Ken Pomeroy ratings being “bullsh*t”, which left Pomeroy bewildered.
Gottlieb is in year two as Green Bay’s head coach, and the 15-13 record (and No. 219 KenPom rating) is at least a huge improvement from year one (4-28; No. 332 on KenPom).
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.