Doug Gottlieb was named head men’s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in May 2024. Gottlieb, a prominent figure in the sports media landscape, had no prior college head coaching experience, yet was chosen to build on the successful 2023-24 campaign, when Green Bay finished third in the Horizon League regular season standings.
The wave of doubt over the program was immediate, and the struggle ensued. Green Bay posted a 4-27 regular-season record, going just 2-18 in conference play, ending the season with a first-round Horizon League tournament loss to Oakland.
In a season that featured a 21-game losing streak, including a loss to Division-II Michigan Tech, it was difficult for outsiders to find reason for optimism. But the way Green Bay closed the season was encouraging for the coaching staff and returning players.
In the final stretch, the Phoenix lost by just nine on the road against eventual conference champion Robert Morris, then led by double digits before falling by just four on the road to eventual runner-up Youngstown State.
Green Bay played like they belonged with the league’s top teams, but more importantly, picked up wins over Wright State and Detroit Mercy – doubling its season total – to avoid a winless conference season.
Some programs might try to erase the memory of a 4-28 season, but the Phoenix, thanks to the leadership of redshirt senior Preston Ruedinger, are using the record as motivation and the late surge as momentum.
“We’re carrying the momentum of ‘we’re good enough,’ even though the record didn’t say as much last year,” Ruedinger said.
That’s the mindset Ruedinger has carried through the offseason and has tried to instill in his teammates. As is the new norm in college basketball, however, Green Bay has 10 new faces and just six returners on its roster for the 2025-26 season.
The returning group is highlighted by Marcus Hall who was second on the team in scoring behind now-Oklahoma State Cowboy Anthony Roy, who played just 11 games. Hall is joined by Ruedinger, Mac Wrecke and C.J. O’Hara who all saw time a season ago, along with Brady Fitzgerald and Caden Wilkins.
The new faces, however, are what makes Green Bay one of the more unique teams in the country from a roster standpoint.
Headlined by the addition of Ramel Bethea, who will be 29 years old when the season starts, the roster includes a Division-I transfer in Ruedinger, numerous non-Division I transfers and freshman from both within an hour of campus and overseas.
After growing up as a Green Bay fan, Ruedinger understands what it takes to get teammates from diverse backgrounds to buy into the program’s ideals.
“One thing we do really well at Green Bay is get the players involved with the community,” he said. “We’re able to show the players how much the community cares. We had the third highest [total] attendance in the Horizon League at 4-28. That’s really hard to do.”
Getting fans to show up has never been an issue for Green Bay, but filling the 10,500 seat Resch Center would be a tough ask for any mid-major program. For the 2025-26 season, the university has decided to move all but three of the team’s home games to the on-campus Kress Events Center.
Packing the program’s passionate fans into a smaller venue, which seats about 4,000, will intensify an already good mid-major atmosphere. Ruedinger and his teammates are also excited for more support from students, something that was lacking at the Resch Center.
Ruedinger is also confident the familiarity of the facility will provide a boost when the season rolls around.
“We just built a brand new locker room [at the Kress Center],” Ruedinger said. “We’re there every day. We get to shoot in the Kress Center. We never get to shoot in the Resch Center. It was almost like a neutral site for us.”
Fans should be excited about an electric atmosphere for Phoenix home games, but more importantly, the on-court product should be much improved thanks to a head coach who’s found his footing in the chaotic college basketball landscape.
Gottlieb still has a lot to learn as a college basketball coach, but his youthful flair and desire to fill the program with the right people has his team believing he is the perfect guy for the job, even if few on the outside do.
“The energy he brings everyday is very helpful,” Ruedinger said. “He’s shown up every day despite all the garbage that’s thrown at him in the media. And he wants to learn too. He hired two people that have been in basketball for 40 years, and those assistants are very helpful to not only us, but also him.”
Gottlieb isn’t changing how he wants his team to play in year two. The Phoenix want to rebound at a high level to jumpstart a fast-paced offense that takes and makes a lot of shots. He wants the team to be tough and out-physical opponents.
That may not be how Green Bay is perceived by opponents right now, but Ruedinger and his teammates believe they can change the narrative.
The expectation is that the team will be picked last in every poll and likely be an underdog in almost every game on the schedule, which is nothing new for Green Bay under Gottlieb.
There will be no greater opportunity for Green Bay as an underdog this season than its season opener at Kansas on Nov. 3. Inside of Allen Fieldhouse, arguably the most iconic venue in the sport, the Phoenix will take on star freshman Darryn Peterson and attempt to pull off an all-time upset.
“We have absolutely nothing to lose,” Ruedinger said. “There’s definitely a level difference, but at the end of the day, we’re Division-I basketball players too.”
Kansas is by far the highest-ranked team Green Bay is set to face this season, but the nothing-to-lose mindset is something the team will carry all year.
College basketball is a wild sport, and Green Bay exemplifies that: It is coached by a radio show host and its oldest and youngest players are separated by more than 10 years. Anything can happen in the new era of the sport. After last season, most people have no reason to believe in the Phoenix, but inside the program there is nothing but confidence that 2025-26 will be a bounce-back year in Green Bay.
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