Doug Gottlieb follows disastrous Green Bay debut with Coach of the Year level season

Doug Gottlieb follows disastrous Green Bay debut with Coach of the Year level season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Doug Gottlieb was easy to criticize last year. A 4-28 record tends to invite that. Plenty of people took their swings. I probably added one or two myself.

When a first-year head coach finishes with one of the worst records in college basketball, the reaction is predictable. The questions get louder. The skepticism grows. Every decision is second-guessed.

But what has happened this season deserves equal attention. Gottlieb admitted after Green Bay’s Horizon League tournament win that a blunt conversation with his brother forced him to confront last season head on.

“You failed last year,” Gottlieb said. “You have to accept that you failed, figure out why, and then get to work on fixing it.”

That accountability became the starting point for Green Bay’s rebuild.

The Phoenix took another step forward Tuesday night, defeating the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons 64-56 in the opening round of the Horizon League tournament. The victory sends the Green Bay Phoenix to Indianapolis for the next round.

Green Bay is now 18-14 and suddenly a few wins away from an NCAA tournament bid. Even if that climb proves a step too far, postseason basketball is almost certainly back in play. Either way, it represents a remarkable turnaround from last season’s 4-28 record.

This season was not a fluke. It also makes a legitimate case that Gottlieb should have been firmly in the Coach of the Year conversation. His brief suspension late in the season likely complicated that argument, but the turnaround itself is undeniable.

Nationally, Travis Steele deserves every bit of praise for guiding Miami (Ohio) to a stunning 30-0 season. But the RedHawks were already 25-9 last year. They were a good program taking the next step.

Green Bay was something else entirely.

The Phoenix finished 4-28 a year ago. The defense struggled. The results piled up in the wrong direction. The program looked stuck.

One year later, it has quite literally and figuratively risen from the ashes.

The same comparison exists inside the Horizon League itself. Clint Sargent did an excellent job guiding Wright State to the regular-season title and the league’s Coach of the Year honor. Wright State finished 15-18 last season before jumping to 20 wins and first place this year.

That is impressive progress. It just is not the same climb Green Bay made.

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Turning a competitive team into a champion is hard. Rebuilding a program that won four games into one still playing meaningful basketball in March may be even harder.

Gottlieb told recruits months ago they had a choice. “You can be part of the best turnaround story in college basketball,” he said, “or you can watch it on TV.”

Maybe we judged Doug Gottlieb too quickly.

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Green Bay will learn its next opponent later tonight as the Horizon League tournament shifts to Indianapolis, where the Phoenix will play in the second round Sunday.

One year ago the program finished 4-28 and looked completely lost.

Now Green Bay is still playing in March, and suddenly a few wins away from something nobody saw coming.

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