UWGB men's basketball coaching search narrows to five: Who is in the running?
GREEN BAY – The search for the next University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball coach is coming down to the wire.
A process that started with more than a dozen candidates has been narrowed to what could be the final five, with a hire potentially coming this week.
According to multiple sources familiar with the search, the list is believed to include former Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen, Hillsdale College coach John Tharp, Wyoming assistant coach Sundance Wicks, San Jose State assistant coach and former UWGB standout Ben Johnson, and Fox Sports radio host and basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb.
UWGB said it could not discuss candidates until the process is complete.
Some might be looking for Saul Phillips on any final list, considering UWGB athletic director Josh Moon hired Phillips at Northern State University when he was the AD at the DII school in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
But Phillips, who has led Northern State to a sparkling 24-6 record entering the weekend, never interviewed for the job.
Still, there are some intriguing names in the race.
John Brannen
Brannen has a proven track record at the DI level and is serving as a program analyst and senior special assistant at Dayton this season.
Phoenix fans will remember Brannen for his time with the Norse. He was hired at NKU in 2015 and led the team to the NCAA tournament in 2017 in its first season of full eligibility at the DI level.
He guided the Norse to the Big Dance two times in his four seasons, along with two Horizon League regular-season championships and an 81-51 overall record.
It helped him land the Cincinnati job in 2019. The Bearcats had 20 wins, captured a share of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed for the league tournament his first year.
His time with the program ended after just two seasons, when the school fired him in April 2021 and accused him of using methods of intimidation against players and jeopardizing or disregarding the well-being, health and safety of his players, according to documents obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The school agreed to pay Brannen $2.75 million as part of a settlement in September.
John Tharp
Tharp is enjoying another successful season at Hillsdale. The Chargers (23-6) made the NCAA Division II Tournament and were set to play Northern Michigan in a Midwest regional Saturday.
He is in his 16th season at the school and has the most wins in program history. The Sheboygan native also had the most wins at DIII Lawrence before arriving at Hillsdale and has shown the ability to recruit and develop players at both stops, including from Wisconsin. There are six players from the state on the Chargers’ roster this season.
If Tharp lands the job, there is a good bet he would retain Phoenix assistant Brandon Pritzl, the former De Pere standout who served as one of his assistants before being hired by former UWGB coach Will Ryan in 2020.
Sundance Wicks
Wicks is in his third season as an assistant at Wyoming after two seasons as the head coach at Missouri Western.
Moon is quite familiar with Wicks.
Wicks graduated from Northern State and served as the associate head coach at the school for two seasons. He also served as an assistant in stops at Colorado, Northern Illinois and San Francisco.
MORE:Crucial offseason begins for UWGB men's basketball after loss in Horizon League tournament
Ben Johnson
Johnson interviewed for the UWGB opening in 2020 before the school hired Ryan.
He is a member of UWGB’s hall of fame and played for the school from 1988 to 1992. He was a team captain for the Phoenix when it made its first NCAA Tournament in 1991.
Johnson spent 10 years as an assistant at Washington State from 2003 to 2013 while coaching under Ken Bone and former UWGB legends Dick Bennett and Tony Bennett. He also spent five seasons at the University of Portland before arriving at San Jose State.
Doug Gottlieb
Gottlieb is the wild card of the group.
He doesn’t have much coaching experience, although he was part of a staff that coached the U.S. team at the Maccabiah Games in 2009 and 2017.
UWGB was impressed with him during his initial interview, so much so that he has survived longer than some established head coaches and assistant coaches.
The Milwaukee native is among the all-time assist leaders in NCAA history during a career that started at Notre Dame. He spent just one season at the school before a well-known incident in which he stole credit cards from fellow students, something he wrote about at length in an essay for The Athletic in 2018.
He eventually ended up at Oklahoma State, where he was a strong player for three seasons from 1997 to 2000 and still holds several school records.
Gottlieb interviewed at OSU twice when the job opened in the past and was considered a legitimate contender both times.
His late father, Bob, was the coach at UW-Milwaukee for five seasons from 1975 to 1980.
His older brother, Gregg, interviewed for the UWGB opening in 2020, and it’s always possible that if Gottlieb lands the job, he could bring Gregg with him to Green Bay.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB men's basketball coaching search narrows to five candidates
