Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb suspended 1 game after rant criticizing officials, Horizon League commissioner after loss

Doug Gottlieb’s postgame rant on Saturday night has cost him.

The Horizon League suspended Gottlieb for one game on Wednesday for comments he made after Green Bay’s 75-72 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday. The former Fox Sports radio host will now miss Friday’s contest against Oakland as a result.

Gottlieb erupted while meeting with reporters on Sunday, slamming the table with both hands and demanding answers from both the officials and the Horizon League commissioner herself. Gottlieb was hit with a technical foul for arguing with an official with about seven minutes left in the contest, and he thought guard Preston Ruedinger should have been granted a foul after Milwaukee’s Stevie Elam ripped the ball out of his hands while driving to the basket in the final seconds. Elam was fouled himself just moments later, and hit both of his free throws to seal the three-point win.

"The last play of the game, just to get the ball, they're grabbing us and holding us. Again, I understand if you're not calling that — that's fine," Gottlieb said, via ESPN. "You had the exact same play on both ends in the last play of the game. The exact same f***ing play! The exact same play."

Gottlieb then called out new Horizon League commissioner Jill Bodensteiner directly. Bodensteiner, the former Saint Joseph’s athletic director, was appointed commissioner of the league last week.

"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," he said. "There was nothing, nothing that should have been called a technical foul. I know when I earn one. I did not earn one."

Gottlieb issued an apology on Wednesday.

“I’d like to apologize to the Horizon League and the officials for my disparaging comments following Sunday’s game,” he said. “I understand and appreciate how difficult their job is, and respect what they do for the sport of basketball. I will be better moving forward.”

Gottlieb is in his second season leading Green Bay. Gottlieb continued to host his daily Fox Sports Radio show last season, but he opted to step away from his role there in December. Gottlieb had previously been modifying the team’s schedule and even recording shows from his campus office at times to balance both jobs simultaneously.

This is the second incident Gottlieb has had on the sidelines this season. He launched a chair in the team’s tunnel after they fell to Robert Morris in December.

The Phoenix, who went just 4-28 last season, hold a 15-13 record entering Friday’s game with Oakland. They are currently in third in the Horizon League standings with three games left in the regular season.