Green Bay men’s basketball head coach Doug Gottlieb has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him with the Phoenix through the 2030-31 season. Heading into the 2026-27 college basketball season, the administration moved quickly to secure their head coach after he orchestrated a major turnaround for the program.
Gottlieb recently revealed he turned down outside coaching interest, including an offer from a Mid-American Conference program, opting instead to stay loyal to the Green Bay rebuild.
The extension rewards a successful second year on the job. Following a difficult inaugural 2024-25 season that ended with a 4-28 overall record, Gottlieb shifted the program’s trajectory. The Phoenix finished the 2025-26 season with an 18-15 overall record, including a 12-8 mark in conference play, according to an On3 report detailing his new contract.
His initial hiring in May 2024 drew national criticism because he possessed no formal college coaching experience, having spent over two decades as a sports radio host for ESPN and Fox Sports. By his second season, Green Bay won six of their final eight regular-season games and looked like conference contenders before a 20-point loss to Northern Kentucky ended their postseason run.
Green Bay Locks Down Athletic Leadership Core
The Gottlieb extension aligns with a coordinated strategy to secure UW-Green Bay’s athletic leadership. Just one day prior, on June 17, 2026, Chancellor Michael Alexander signed Athletic Director Josh Moon to his own extension through 2031.
Women’s basketball coach Kayla Karius was also recently extended through the 2034-35 season. Gottlieb now has the institutional support and runway to try and resurrect a historically quiet men’s program that has made the NCAA Tournament just one time in the last 30 years.