Editor’s Note: After more than 20 years as a television and radio broadcaster, Doug Gottlieb, a former point guard at Oklahoma State, has taken his first college coaching job as the head coach at Green Bay. Gottlieb is coaching the Phoenix while also continuing his duties as a Fox Sports Radio host. Gottlieb will be writing a recurring journal for Hoops HQ to document the 2024-25 season. This is his first installment.
Good afternoon from … well, I’m not exactly sure.
As I write this, my team is 0-2. This is my second road trip as a head coach. The first was to my alma mater, Oklahoma State. We just finished practice on campus and are on the road for seven-and-half hours. That’s six-and-a-half hours of driving and an hour for dinner in Davenport, Iowa.
Western Illinois is our next opponent. The Leathernecks won 21 games last year and kicked the hell out of Green Bay. I’m more than a little anxious because we are coming off a really poor performance at home against St. Thomas.
When people say being a college basketball coach is a 24/7 job, they are right and yet wrong at the same time. I plead with my staff and players to have a life and not let this consume them, but there are so many different parts to being a mid-major coach – or any basketball coach, really – you can’t help but let it take up a good chunk of your brain. If you’re not careful, the 24/7 thing becomes all too real.
The St. Thomas game was a prime example. I did a bad job. I over-prepared the team for their actions, didn’t address enough of the basic breakdowns in what we were doing wrong defensively and forgot the basics of guarding anyone who plays St Thomas’ style. Guard the Ball. Keep your man in front of you and make them make shots over the top of a high hand. We discussed all those things, but it got lost in my desire to teach my guys how to guard multiple actions and ball screen coverage, or the use of their 5 men as shooters. I forgot the first rule of coaching: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I tried to correct that in our preparation for this game against Western Illinois, but still I wonder. Are we tired or rested? What will the long bus ride do to us? Are we confident or shell shocked from giving up 54 points in a half to the Tommies? I got great minutes from my freshman guard C.J. O’Hara. Was that real or was it just because he was more athletic than they were? What happens when he doesn’t have that same advantage against an older OVC team like Western Illinois?
Anthony Roy is my scoring machine. He had 24 points in the loss. St. Thomas frustrated him and guarded him the way everyone is going to guard him. To me, Ant has to lead us, but not try and be a hero if we get behind. Don’t get me wrong, there is a world where he leads the country in scoring, but at what cost? He has to play within our system and our system has to allow him some freedom others don’t get. It’s my job to help him strike that balance.
But managing fatigue and knowing we need to be sharp is difficult. We have worked hard since the loss, mostly on defense and rebounding, our two Achilles heels.
Before boarding the bus all the players had to show us their laptops and book bags. Gotta make sure they keep those grades up. The bus is brand new from Lamers and man, is it smooth.
My thoughts when I look outside the windows are that it is now real. All those years of wanting to be a college basketball coach and I finally have a team of my own. Everyone around me remains super positive. Green Bay’s president, Mike Alexander, sent me the nicest text after our home loss.
First one is the toughest to get. It will come! Tough 10 minutes in the first half, but you could see growth from a lot of players tonight. Can’t wait for the next one!!
My Athletic Director Josh Moon and I talked for 30 minutes this morning. He missed the game because his son Brady is in the state playoffs in football and had the game of his life.
Their message is clear: This is Green Bay. At this level you aren’t going to win ’em all. Just keep believing and giving people reason to believe.
But I’m a realist. Most schools play a D2 or D3 team to get some good vibes early in the season. Us? We are playing the dumbest schedule ever. It isn’t ego, quite the opposite. I figured, let’s play people that challenge us. It’s the only way to get better, but at the same time you risk killing your team’s confidence.
I’m watching video of Western on Synergy, which is the analytics and video company everyone uses. They beat San Jose State and I notice they are killing San Jose State on effort and on the boards. They run some good actions with their guard and their big guys. Defensively they switch everything one through four, which is perfect for us, as long as we use our counters properly. I feel like they are older, they have won a game, they are at home, kicked our tail last year and we have no idea how to win a college game. When people ask if I am nervous when a game begins, I tell them no. It’s the truth, but I am wondering how my players will react in these moments.
We have arrived in Davenport. We have a freshman who is redshirting, Caden Wilkins, who is from the area. His dad Chris recommended the restaurant. The stop was perfect. The food was good and we watched Providence come from behind to beat Hampton on Fox. We play PC Saturday night as part of this road trip. Confidence is such a huge part of basketball and I’m hoping that seeing Hampton compete with Providence has helped our guys believe we can compete with a Big East team.
We pull into the hotel around 8:15 send the guys to their rooms. We brought snacks on the bus so they are all loaded up for the night.
Macomb, Illinois is a town of 15,000 people. There are two strip malls across the street from the hotel and farmland behind us. The coaches are pretty positive. We all believe we can win, but I personally have no feel for whether we will come out with the intensity we need.
My freshman point guard Ben Tweedy is a really bright kid. We meet for 15 minutes. I tell him to watch the coverages on Anthony and Marcus Hall (our five man) and let’s see what actions work against their switches. We are going to change how they sit on the bench tomorrow so that our coaches sit in between the players. Our guys are inexperienced and they need the extra brain power.
I’m exhausted because I’m still a little under the weather. I used to never get sick, but I have actually been pretty sick since the OSU loss. Marcus Hall and I both missed Monday’s practice because we were both sick. I fell asleep at 10:15 p.m. after taking some NyQuil, but I was up at 3 am and my mind was racing.
Whatever happens in the game tomorrow night, we’ll be prepared. I have a great staff and we do all our scouts collectively. Aerick Sanders, who we all call “Eighth Grade,” does the personnel. (Aerick got that nickname many years ago when he was a freshman at San Diego State and playing a pickup game with Randy Holcomb, a former Aztec. Aerick looked real young and Randy said, “Who the f— is the eighth grader?” The nickname stuck.) “Arch” Damon Archibald does the defense. Jerry Smith, our Director of Player Development, does special teams, meaning out-of-bounds and end-of-half plays. Jordan McCabe and I do the offense.
My belief is that we have to be cohesive as a team. I’m constantly saying “Together” to everyone in the program. So why not do scouts together? All of us played, all of us know ball. This way everyone’s eyes have seen the opponent so we can openly discuss our game planning.
The coaches’ meeting ends late and it’s time for me to head to bed. I’m exhausted but a few hours later I wake up and can’t fall back to sleep. Our game is in 15 hours, but now I’m questioning everything again.
Ed. note: The Phoenix ended up beating Western Illinois, 87-73, to give Gottlieb his first win as a head coach. Three days later they lost by 14 points at Providence. They are 1–3 heading into tonight’s home game against SIUE.
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