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 second installment. You can read the first one here.
Let me start by saying this: I don’t think people understand how hard it is to not play Anthony Roy. One, because I genuinely love the kid. Two, because he is the ultimate competitor and wants to win so badly. And three, because he is the focus of everything we do at both ends of the floor. Ant is basically a cheat code — he leads the nation in scoring for a reason.
It was not an easy decision to bench him for the game against Cleveland State, but I believe it was the right one. My hope is that 15 years from now, after Ant has enjoyed a very successful pro career, he will come visit wherever I’m coaching and tell my team that the moment his life changed was either the moment he decided to play for me or the moment I benched him.
As for our program, my hope is that whenever we make the NCAA Tournament, we’ll all be sitting around and someone will say, “How the hell did we do this?” And we’ll all go, “Cleveland State.”
I want to stress that my decision was basketball and time management related. We haven’t had any issues with Ant outside of that. In the summer and fall, he was late to a few practices and I pushed him pretty hard. The first time, I ran him. The second time, I borrowed a technique from Coach Sutton: five miles at five in the morning. Ant is such a stud that even after the five-mile run, a morning practice and an afternoon lift, he had 35 points in 25 minutes during our scrimmage that night. And he winked at me, like, bring it on.
Our court time is especially valuable because we are on Academic Progress Rate (APR) probation, which means we can only practice five days and 16 hours a week. Every other team can go six days and 20 hours. Part of the probation is a mandatory study hall for four hours per week. It doesn’t matter that five of my kids are straight-A students and that 12 of the 13 players from last season had a 3.0 GPA or higher — since the guys who led the program two years ago were in bad academic shape, we now must follow these mandates. To be honest, the APR rule is a complete joke. The last time they changed it was 2004. There is a massive need for adjustment.
Anyway, the Cleveland State game was an important one for us — not just because we’ve been struggling to get a win, but also because we were just starting to scratch the surface of what we can be. Plus, it was at home. We need to show people in Green Bay that we’re building, and league games on a Saturday are crucial for that. If you play well in those games, the crowds begin to grow and the program garners momentum. When we hosted Campbell, it was a noon start and I thought our guys were asleep for the first half.
With all that in mind, I decided to hold a shootaround at 9 a.m. the morning of the Cleveland State game, even though tip off was set for 2 p.m. It was a bit unconventional, but all the guys showed up on time — except for Ant. His phone was off (apparently it had died), so we couldn’t even get in touch with him. He finally arrived around 10:15 a.m., as we were starting to wind down. He walked over — seemingly to apologize — and I just told him that I didn’t want to talk. I was fuming.
Our staff met shortly after to discuss how to address the situation. One coach suggested we make him run five miles the ensuing morning. Another proposed that we bench him for the first half. Others thought we shouldn’t play him at all. I said I was going to think about it and return with a final decision right before game time.
There was a lot to consider. On top of his tardiness, Ant hadn’t played the way I want him to — the way we need him to — in our losses to Campbell and IU Indy. He took questionable shots, spent too much complaining to the refs and didn’t focus enough on defense and rebounding. I tell him all the time, “You can lead the country in scoring but if we don’t win, nobody will care.” He is incredibly talented, but he has to make more winning plays.
Doug Gottlieb’s Diary: A Long Bus Ride, a Rough Night’s Sleep, a First Win
Gottlieb is in his first season coaching Green Bay. It’s been a rough but joyful ride so far.But his absence from shootaround was by far the biggest factor weighing into my decision. I can’t emphasize enough how much I wrestled with it. I know people think that this is just a part-time job for me (I am still hosting my daily show for Fox Sports Radio), but this is everything. On Thursday night, I had two computers open and I watched every Cleveland State possession and every one of our possessions from this year. We came up with a game plan, and then a few hours before tip off, I was contemplating benching the player at the center of it.
A lot went through my head. I thought about what coach Sutton and my father would do. I questioned whether I would be hurting the team by benching him. I was still torn on my drive back to the arena. The route takes me down Lombardi Way, past Titletown district and Lambeau Field. Then, right next to the Resch Center is the Expo, which used to be the Brown County Expo Center, where Dick Bennett coached the team. In my mind, I’m thinking, Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Dick Bennett — they would all do this. This is an easy call, right? By the time I got out of the car, I had made my decision. I was not going to play him.
Ant and I did not talk before the game. He was in uniform and prepared to play just like everybody else. Our guys really battled, but it was difficult falling behind knowing that we had a cheat code sitting nine seats down on the bench. You remember the video game Contra? It felt like I was choosing to play with three lives instead of unlimited.
Despite the loss, I would make the same decision again. It was a necessary statement from our staff. Generally, we’re a pretty laid-back group. We don’t sweat the petty stuff. But there comes a point where if you’re not disciplined enough, it comes back to get you. We have to hold ourselves and our players accountable.
Nowadays, I honestly believe that you can build something special anywhere in college basketball. Green Bay can be a big-time program at our level. They love hoops in Wisconsin, there are a lot of local players, our president is completely invested in the process, our athletic director is all about it. I truly believe that we can make this great, but we have to do it the right way. Before the game, I told our coaches, “This is the day we separate ourselves as a program.”
Ant has been receptive to discipline from day one. I had no idea he was going to put out the statement that he did on Sunday. When I saw it, I texted him, “Are you ready to stop bullshitting and start winning some games together?” And he just responded, “Absolutely.”
Our team had a really good practice on Monday. Not surprisingly, everyone was on time. I told the guys that the coldest and darkest moment of the day is right before the dawn. Our Dec. 21, the darkest day of the year, was actually Dec. 5. “Today is the sunrise,” I told them. “We start anew.”
