Green Bay Phoenix head coach Doug Gottlieb will be forced to miss his team’s upcoming matchup at Oakland on Friday night after the Horizon League announced Wednesday afternoon that he has been suspended for one game.

The suspension stems from Gottlieb’s postgame comments that criticized the officiating in Green Bay’s 75-72 loss to in-state rival Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon.

He is being suspended “for violating the League’s Operating Regulations” according to a Horizon League statement.

“Gottlieb’s postgame comments do not reflect the League’s values or sportsmanship expectations,” the statement continued. “The Horizon League considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.”

Gottlieb took issue with several calls in the game – a technical foul that he felt was undeserved, a loose ball foul on CJ O’Hara that resulted in two Milwaukee points and his team’s best defender picking up his fourth foul with about 4 minutes left, and the final two possessions of the game which saw the Panthers receive a foul call but no call for Preston Reudinger’s drive to the basket to take the lead with under 5 seconds remaining.

“You had the exact same play at both ends on the last play of the game,” Gottlieb said after the game. “The exact same [expletive] play. The exact same play.”

The Horizon League statement did not mention any further action for the officials involved in Sunday’s game at Milwaukee – King Whetstone, Bryan Anslinger, and Tariq Lucas.

Last season, after Greg Kampe was suspended one game for engaging in what the league called “unacceptable” behavior towards an official, the conference also noted that the referree involved in that controversy, Josh White, would no longer officiate Horizon League games.

Gottlieb seemed to take particular issue with Whetstone, who called him for a technical foul with around 7 minutes left in the second half. Whetstone has called five Horizon vs Horizon games this season and has called four games involving UWM, including three at UWM Panther Arena. It was his first time calling a Green Bay game this season.

He ranks 231st in KenPom’s ref rankings, with a Fouls Above Average of +1.8, meaning he calls nearly two more fouls per game compared to the average official.

“I need the new commissioner of the Horizon League to explain to me what a technical foul is when I don’t leave the box, I don’t curse, I’m not demonstrative,” Gottlieb said after the game. “There was nothing, nothing that should have been called a technical foul. I know when I earn one. I did not earn one.”

A video posted on Twitter by Mitch Gilfillan appears to back up Gottlieb’s claim as the Phoenix head coach was mic’d up during Sunday’s game.

“We have talked to Coach Gottlieb about the comments he made following Sunday’s game,” UW-Green Bay Chancellor Mike Alexander and Athletic Director Josh Moon said in a joint statement. “We appreciate his apology and respect the commissioner’s decision. However, we do not believe his actions warrant a suspension.”

Green Bay assistant coach Kerry Rupp will be the acting head coach for the Phoenix for Friday night’s game at Oakland.

Rupp previously was interm head coach at Utah for 13 games and spent four seasons as the head coach at Louisiana Tech. He also spent eight seasons as the associate head coach at Oregon State and was an assistant at Detroit Mercy for two seasons prior to joining the Green Bay staff.

“Everything that I lack, he has,” Gottlieb said of Rupp during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “I lack experience, he has a million years.”

“He has…experience that I don’t think there’s another assistant in the league has. So yeah, full confidence in him.”