FOX Sports Radio afternoon host Doug Gottlieb was hired as the new men’s basketball coach at UW-Green Bay Tuesday in what was a somewhat surprising move to the uninitiated.
Gottlieb had openly flirted with taking the job last spring when it came open and said as much on his nationally syndicated radio show. When the coach who took the job departed to return to Wyoming as its next head coach this late in the hiring cycle, the radio host seemed like a natural fit to take the job.
Now, ponder that end of that sentence for a moment: “the radio host seemed like a natural fit to take the job.” Because, despite being hired as the new head men’s basketball coach at UW-Green Bay, The Doug Gottlieb Show is going to continue as if nothing has changed.
Many have opined on the credentials — or lack thereof, in most cases — of Gottlieb and the how/why he got hired. I’m not going to do that. This is a media column, after all.
But I will question just how in the hell Doug Gottlieb is going to pull this off.
I’m not going to pretend as if being a sports talk radio host is one of the more difficult jobs you can have. It isn’t. But there are challenges that, I have to assume, being the head coach of an NCAA Division I basketball program would exacerbate.
On the flip side, I can’t help but think it’s likely that having a two-hour nationally syndicated radio show (and a daily one-hour podcast) will eventually lead to some sort of dust-up between the host and a player, opposing player, coach, university, athletic department, fan base, official, broadcaster, or the league office. It’s just simply bound to happen at some point.
To his credit, Doug Gottlieb is an insanely personable radio host. It’s one of his more redeeming qualities. He discusses what’s going on in his personal life, personal anecdotes, and says what’s on his mind, despite how frequently that gets him in trouble.
But — no offense to the likes of Scott Shapiro and Don Martin, who I greatly admire — answering to a University President or an Athletic Director for inserting your foot in your mouth on a national platform is an entirely different ballgame.
Similarly, being at the top of your game in two professions is insanely difficult to accomplish. Should he not be as knowledgeable on a topic as he should be on his radio show, won’t the suits have to question his level of commitment? If ratings slip, or if he’s not available for a meeting when he’s needed, won’t doubt begin to creep in about whether or not he’s still the right person for the job?
And at Green Bay, if his team looks unprepared or is outcoached on some random Wednesday night Horizon League matchup, will the fan base or administration wonder “If only he had two more hours to prepare today instead of talking into that damn microphone?”
Not only is this a gamble for UW-Green Bay, but it’s also a gamble for FOX Sports Radio and Gottlieb. There’s a very real possibility he could lose two jobs by doing neither of them to the best of his ability.
While the questions persist, and I think they are fair and warranted, the only person who can know whether or not this is going to work is Doug Gottlieb. And you know what? If he believes he can pull it off, who am I to say he can’t?
I genuinely hope he can manage to do both national sports talk radio and be a Division I basketball coach. But knowing how territorial employers get, I won’t be surprised if he has to choose, at some point, which career he wants to continue in.
I wish Doug Gottlieb the best of luck. Not just because I think he’s going to need it, but because I think it would be a fantastic story to be told some day about just how in the hell he pulled it off.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
