Who could have seen this coming? It turns out, coaching a Division I basketball team and hosting a daily nationally syndicated radio program simultaneously may be a tough gig.
University of Wisconsin Green Bay head coach Doug Gottlieb is learning that the hard way so far this year. Gottlieb, the longtime radio host and former college hooper at Oklahoma State, took the UWGB job this past offseason. But in a quite peculiar arrangement, he was able to convince the school to let him continue his radio show.
So far, that arrangement hasn’t worked out too well for the Phoenix, who on Wednesday added an eighth straight loss to their record after falling to Division II Michigan Tech. To make matters worse, Gottlieb described the school prior to the game as “Nobody U.”
Given the embarrassing losing streak, which was amplified during a social media spat with ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter earlier this week, many were wondering whether Gottlieb would still host his afternoon radio show just a couple hours after Wednesday’s loss.
But people looking forward to preying on Gottlieb’s downfall were afforded no such opportunity, as the head coach was absent from his afternoon show. Instead, Fox Sports Radio’s Dan Beyer filled in with former NFL safety Kerry Rhodes.
After his UW Green Bay basketball team lost to D2 Michigan Tech this morning, head coach Doug Gottlieb is absent from his afternoon radio program pic.twitter.com/UgafGZcZth
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 18, 2024
“No Doug today,” Beyer began the show acknowledging the elephant in the room. “Did you really think that Doug was going to coach a game and do a show in a span of three hours?”
“Kind of,” Rhodes replied.
“Phoenix had a tough one today, played without their leading scorer. But Doug is dealing with that, we are dealing with this here on Fox Sports Radio,” Beyer said as he continued the show’s open, but not before getting one more parting joke in at Gottlieb’s expense. “Doug’s feeling the agony of defeat right now but we’re going to bring you the thrill of victory. And the thrill of victory that is the NBA Cup!”
It’s important to note, Gottlieb’s absence was planned given the timing of Wednesday’s game, which tipped off at 12:00 p.m. ET, just three hours prior to when his radio show begins. Beyer confirmed as much in a social media post.
Yeah, and that’s because his game was scheduled to end 60 minutes before his show was going to air. If it goes to OT, even less. Plus, postgame media and having to meet with your team, even less.
Doug was scheduled off more than a week ago. He didn’t take off because they lost. https://t.co/ZEvQSkFWPs
— Dan Beyer (@danbeyeronfox) December 18, 2024
Gottlieb has coached games on days he does his radio show in the past, though obviously nothing that would require this quick of a turnaround. Nevertheless, that made onlookers curious as to whether he’d show up today, win or lose.
It’s been a week Gottlieb would probably like to forget. And with the Phoenix’s record standing at an ugly 2-11, some are starting to wonder whether it’s time to pull the plug on this experiment. If that’s the case, at least within the next couple years, it’d likely have to be from Gottlieb voluntarily stepping away from one of his two positions.
According to a report in Sportico on Wednesday, Gottlieb’s buyout in Green Bay is $2.3 million, a figure that exceeds the entire revenue generated by the team last season ($2.02 million). It’s unlikely a Horizon League school like UWGB can afford that type of payment for firing a coach.
So that leaves just a few options on the table. Gottlieb can continue to be both a head coach and radio host and hope to turn things around on the court. He could step away from the radio gig in the hopes that the extra time can benefit his team. Or he can resign as the head coach and go back to being a full-time sports media personality.
It’ll be interesting to see which option Gottlieb falls on after this season.
[Fox Sports Radio]
