Doug Gottlieb

College basketball career

After signing a national letter of intent with Notre Dame, Gottlieb was their starting point guard during the 1995–96 college basketball season, starting all but the first four games and leading the team with 154 assists as well as steals and minutes played. However, Gottlieb's stint at Notre Dame would be short due to drug problems. Gottlieb left Notre Dame after an incident where he stole a fellow classmate's credit card and used it to charge multiple purchases. This evolved into a national scandal and resulted in substantial backlash. Gottlieb transferred away from the Notre Dame program as a result of the credit card scandal.

After leaving Notre Dame, Gottlieb then transferred to Golden West College (GWC) where he received an Associate of Arts in business. Despite offers from Cincinnati, Alabama and others to transfer and sit out a season on their campus, Gottlieb chose to sit out his transfer year at Golden West College. GWC was coached by his former Tustin Coach Tom McCluskey, and Gottlieb took on the role of redshirt player/coach. He practiced with the team and traveled to road games as the assistant coach. In addition, Gottlieb was a volunteer assistant at his high school under Andy Ground. In one game at Santa Ana Valley, Ground was ejected, and Gottlieb coached the team to an overtime loss.

Gottlieb was perceived to be waiting on Baron Davis to choose a school, as UCLA and Georgia Tech both expressed that Gottlieb was their second choice to Davis. After Davis chose UCLA, a school in which Gottlieb's family had season tickets to for 20 years and his brother and sister were alums (sister was captain of the cheer squad), Gottlieb looked elsewhere to play college ball. His final schools were Marquette, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Utah, Oregon and Tennessee. In 1997, Gottlieb accepted an offer from Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton (under whom Gottlieb's father had once been assistant coach) to attend the university. He immediately took over as point guard for an Oklahoma State team that had gone 17–15 in consecutive years and led the Cowboys to the NCAA tournament.

During his second year in Stillwater, Gottlieb led the nation in assists (8.8 per game), only the second Cowboy to lead the nation in a statistical category. He also started setting Oklahoma State assist records, breaking the school career mark with 500 (after only two seasons) and broke the school record of 22 career double-figure assist games. In a game against Florida Atlantic, Gottlieb set a school record and tied the Big 12 mark with 18 assists, and in the Big 12 tournament, he set the record for assists in a game (14) as well as in tournament play (38). The 1998–99 season would culminate with another trip to the NCAA tournament. As a senior, Gottlieb finished second in the nation in assists with 8.5 per game. Gottlieb's senior season would end with a third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, and the team would make it all the way to the Elite Eight.

Gottlieb notably entered a game with his shorts on backwards. He then took his shorts off on the court and put them back on correctly. He was guarded from cameras and taunting fans by a circle that his teammates formed around their embarrassed teammate. When Gottlieb became a broadcaster after his playing days ended, this incident was mentioned in a press conference by North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. After being questioned about criticism of his program by Gottlieb, Willliams responded that Gottlieb "couldn't even put his pants on the right way." He then chanted "pants on backwards! Pants on backwards!" imitating the taunting that opposing fans commonly chanted at Gottlieb after the incident.

Gottlieb currently holds all of Oklahoma State's assist records and ranks tenth all-time in NCAA career assists with 947. He graduated from Oklahoma State in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in marketing. In addition to being named All Big 12 Honorable Mention his senior year at Oklahoma State, Gottlieb was named the 1999 Big 12 Scholar Athlete Community Service Athlete of the Year.

Professional basketball career

After graduating from college, Gottlieb went undrafted in the NBA draft but was made the No 1 pick of the Oklahoma Storm in the 2000 United States Basketball League draft. Gottlieb's season with the Storm would be successful as he led the USBL in assists and helped the Storm to a 2nd-place finish in the team's inaugural season (losing to the Dodge City Legend in the USBL Championship Game). Gottlieb then took his basketball career overseas, which included a stop in Israel after signing with Maccabi Ra'anana. Gottlieb played internationally at the professional level in France, Russia and Israel.

The Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association signed Gottlieb on Nov. 28, 2000, prior to training camp and then released him on Dec. 13, 2000, two days before their opening game. On Dec. 28, he signed with the Salina Rattlers of the (now defunct) International Basketball Association and played in six games (four starts) before the team released him due to Gottlieb's intent to play overseas. In February 2001, he joined Ural Great Perm of the Russian Basketball Federation and helped the team win the league championship. Following Ural's season, Gottlieb traveled to Israel and won a gold medal as the MVP for the United States team at the Maccabiah Games. In the title game, the U.S. team defeated Israel 82–71. He then played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League and then was invited to return to the Oklahoma Storm. However, he and new coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did not see eye-to-eye, and he was released before the season began. Following his release, Gottlieb played the 2001–02 season with the Maccabi Ra'anana.

Broadcast career

In 2002, Gottlieb co-hosted a midday sports talk show on Oklahoma City radio station WWLS 640 AM, known locally as "The Sports Animal". Gottlieb took the job in OKC only after securing a job to call college basketball games on ESPN and ESPN Regional. In addition, Gottlieb called Oklahoma State games for the Cowboy Basketball Network. At the end of the 2002-2003 season, Gottlieb returned to France to play for Claremont Ferrand. Upon returning stateside he worked out with the Minnesota Timberwolves Summer League team and co-hosted the NBA Draft on ESPN Radio.

Gottlieb was hired by ESPN Radio in September 2003 as co-host of ESPN Radio's GameNight. Gamenight was ESPN Radio's longest running show. Gottlieb's co-host was Chuck Wilson, one of the original voices of ESPN Radio. Gottlieb would also fill in on The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and began hosting The NBA Today on Sundays. Meanwhile, he also continued to call college basketball games on ESPN's family of networks. He also worked as a studio analyst for ESPNews during the NCAA tournament.

Gottlieb was asked by ESPN to help launch ESPNU from Charlotte. The fledgling network was a company priority, and based upon his age, his relationship with Mike Hall, the host, and the launch being March 3, the heart of college basketball season, Gottlieb accepted the position and stayed in Charlotte for a month.

The next basketball season, Gottlieb became a mainstay on SportsCenter and as an analyst on ESPN and ESPN2 games. He caused a stir when he questioned the logic in the Big Ten's officiating crews. His segment "Point of Contention" was just that, a contentious look at previously untouchable college coaches and issues. On radio, Gottlieb would move to host The Pulse weekday evenings from 8 to 10 Eastern before moving to afternoon drive (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET). He also served as a college basketball analyst for ESPNEWS and wrote for ESPN.com. Gottlieb was also a frequent guest on other ESPN television shows including College Basketball Gameday Final. He occasionally appeared on the shows SportsNation and Mike and Mike in the Morning as a guest host.

Gottlieb and Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim have traded barbs since 2005 because of Gottlieb's criticism of what he regards as Syracuse's soft nonconference schedule and Boeheim's comments regarding Gottlieb's difficulties at Notre Dame. Boeheim has discussed their feud publicly.

On July 31, 2012, Gottlieb announced that he was leaving ESPN to join CBS. He served as a studio and game analyst for CBS Sports’ coverage of regular-season college basketball and joint coverage with Turner Sports of the NCAA basketball tournament. Gottlieb co-hosted a nightly television show on CBS Sports Network called Leadoff. His co-host was Allie LaForce, the former Miss Teen USA, who has become CBS' lead sideline reporter for college football. In addition to Leadoff, The Doug Gottlieb Show was moved to the new CBS Sports Radio network. Gottlieb's commentary and conversational interviewing style followed his show from ESPN Radio to CBS Sports Radio.

In 2013, Gottlieb started participating in the CBS Sports Minute on CBS Radio stations throughout the country. In 2014, CBS decided to move the Doug Gottlieb Show to a TV simulcast format. Essentially canceling Leadoff, Gottlieb's radio show and his longtime producer Adam Klug moved to New York City, where the show was on both radio and television at 3 p.m. Eastern on weekdays.

Beginning in 2017, Gottlieb now works as a basketball analyst and radio host for FOX Sports. The Doug Gottlieb Show moved to Fox Sports Radio.

Coaching

Along with then-University of Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, Gottlieb helped coach the United States team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games. He coached Team USA in basketball at the 2017 Maccabiah Games, winning a gold medal as the USA defeated France in the final in Jerusalem. He had formerly won a gold medal at the Maccabiah Games as a player, but said "It is more special to win as a coach."

Honors

On June 26, 2011, Gottlieb was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Oklahoma State Board of Governors. In January 2016, Gottlieb became a national spokesman for the American Cancer Society.

Personal life

Gottlieb met his wife Angie, a native of Drumright, Oklahoma, and fellow Oklahoma State alum, while attending Oklahoma State and has been married since August 2000. The couple have three children. In November 2014, Bob Gottlieb, Doug's father, died of cancer. Gottlieb shared his father's death on Facebook and tens of basketball teams, high school and college, wore orange in Bob's honor. His brother Gregg is the longest tenured assistant in the Pac-12 and is currently on staff at Oregon State. His sister Wendy, formerly in marketing for the Oakland Raiders, performs philanthropy in Northern California.