A chair ended up taking the full wrath of Green Bay head coach Doug Gottlieb after an “embarrassing” 80–78 loss to Robert Morris on Thursday at the Kress Events Center. Gottlieb later said the viral moment pulled attention away from what he feels actually mattered: his team’s progress and how the matchup was a winnable one. Fans, however, don’t seem convinced.

Green Bay was comfortably leading by 11 points with 3:54 minutes left in the game. But, after this point, Robert Morris launched a late rally, cutting the lead to two with 35.7 seconds to go. Things went from bad to worse for Green Bay, as they received a 10-second violation after failing to advance the ball past midcourt.

As the Colonials shot the go-ahead three, and Green Bay went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to tie the score, forward Nikolaos Chitikoudis scored the winning layup for Robert Morris. Gottlieb, visibly agitated, paced along the sideline while throwing his hands in the air after his team gave up the final bucket. As he headed toward the locker room, Gottlieb picked up a chair and flung it against the wall.

In the aftermath of the incident, the HC tried to bring the attention back to his program.

“I’m encouraged by our effort and our defense and how we executed,” Gottlieb said after the game. “That was just embarrassing, how we lost the game.”

“We didn’t defend the 3-point line,” he said. “And we have guys that are not listening. So it happens. We lost the game, he added. “Yeah, we’re actually a good basketball team. I know it’s surprising to people. We’re actually pretty good, but we played like idiots at the end of the game.”

Green Bay Phoenix fans, however, are not falling for anything, calling out Doug Gottlieb for his poor coaching performance.

Angry fans bring out receipts

The loss to the Colonials marked Green Bay’s sixth setback of the season, putting them at 0–1 in conference play. It’s the same pattern the Phoenix have been stuck in since Doug Gottlieb stepped in as head coach in May 2024.

The school brought in Gottlieb, who also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, hoping he could revive the program. His first year ended at 4–28, and while the team has already matched that win count with a 4–6 start through 10 games, fans aren’t impressed. To them, the bar was simply way too low for this to be considered progress.

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“No, it was your coaching. I watched this debacle,” one fan tweeted, while another wrote, “Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.”

Well, concerns among fans regarding Gottlieb’s attitude are nothing new.

In 2019, he drew backlash for mocking Andrew Luck’s retirement, dismissing the quarterback’s concerns about long-term injuries. “Retiring cause rehabbing is ‘too hard’ is the most millennial thing ever,” Gottlieb wrote.

He later clashed online with ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor Stan Verrett after criticizing 2024 Heisman winner Travis Hunter for choosing Jackson State in 2021, historically the first No. 1 overall recruit to commit to an HBCU.

“Twitter celebrating a kid making an obvious mistake is hilarious,” Gottlieb wrote, after which Verrett responded, “Ignorant, but opinionated. Bad combo.”

His first coaching season brought more scrutiny. He dismissed the value of playing supposedly weaker opponents, saying, “I don’t really like the idea of Nobody U coming in here … I always thought, ‘What do we learn playing a game where we win by 20.’” A week later, Green Bay fell 72–70 to Division II Michigan Tech.

Despite this, Gottlieb insisted critics owed him “a mea culpa” once wins started coming, even as the team was stuck in a 19-game losing streak.

Another fan brought attention to what many have been arguing since last year, saying, “Well, when you coach part-time, they’ll play part-time.”

This ties back to the fact that even after taking the job, Gottlieb kept hosting his nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio show. Fans might’ve let it slide if they hadn’t seen how things were playing out.

Back in February, the HC was in New Orleans for Super Bowl Radio Row, handling his duties for Fox Sports’ “The Doug Gottlieb Show.” The team had Wednesday off and was supposed to practice on Thursday, which Gottlieb said he would watch remotely. That, of course, left many thinking that he wasn’t taking the job seriously.

After all, at that point, with only a month left in the regular season, Green Bay (2–22, 0–13 in the Horizon League) was widely considered one of the weakest teams in Division I. Many felt he mishandled the transition after former coach Sundance Wicks, who had gone 18–14 in 2023–24, left for Wyoming in May 2024.

The concerns are understandable. Gottlieb did say they are a good program; however, stats tell a different story.

As of now, their PS/G stands at 73.5, placing them 272nd out of 365 teams, while their PA/G is 75.0 (218th of 365). Advanced metrics also flag them poorly: their SRS is negative at -4.62, indicating they are below-average even after adjusting for the strength of schedule.

Whether things are ever going to improve this season is something that remains to be seen.