(GREEN BAY PHOENIX) – Green Bay men’s basketball head coach Doug Gottlieb announced changes to his coaching staff on Tuesday afternoon. The Phoenix officially hired Andy Ground as an Assistant to the Head Coach and elevated Jerry Smith and Kaden LeCapitaine.
Smith will move from GB’s Director of Player Development to an Assistant Coach, while LeCapitaine will assume the Director of Basketball Operations role after serving as the Director of Video and Analytics a year ago.
Andy Ground joins the Green Bay men’s basketball program in 2025 as Assistant to the Head Coach, bringing with him over three decades of coaching experience across the high school, junior college, and collegiate levels.
Prior to his arrival at Green Bay, Ground most recently served as an Assistant Coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School from 2022 to 2024, after spending the 2021–22 season as the Head Coach at San Diego City College. He also previously held an assistant role at Santa Margarita during the 2020–21 season.
Ground’s longest and most impactful tenure came at Saddleback College, where he served for over a decade as Head Coach (2009–20) and earlier as Co-Head Coach (2007–08) and Assistant Coach (1999–2007). Ground was immensely successful during his tenure at Saddleback, finishing with 307 wins in 13 seasons. His .743 lifetime winning percentage ranks No. 2 all-time in the history of Saddleback basketball, and his win total is second only to Bill Brummel, who coached at the school for 26 years. Ground won seven Orange Empire Conference championships during his tenure, as well as state titles in 2010 and 2015.
Ground also had coaching stints at Irvine Valley College (2008-09) and Tustin High School (1992-99), compiling a 154-49 record with three league titles and post-season playoff appearances in each of those seven seasons. Five of his teams reached the CIF quarterfinal round.
Ground played at Saddleback during the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons under Coach Brummel before earning a scholarship to play at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. He later played professionally in Lima, Peru, and in Bonn, Germany.
Jerry Smith entered the coaching ranks last year when he joined the Phoenix staff as the Director of Player Development. A former standout at the University of Louisville and an experienced professional player overseas, Smith brings a wealth of basketball knowledge and international perspective to the Phoenix.
Smith’s coaching career builds on a 13-year professional playing career that took him across the globe. After starting in the NBA G League with the Springfield Armor (2010–12) and earning a brief call-up to the Brooklyn Nets in 2012, he embarked on a successful international career with stops in Italy, Israel, Germany, and extensively in Greece and Turkey. His final season as a player came in 2023 with OGM Ormanspor in Turkey.
Collegiately, Smith played four years (2006–10) under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino at Louisville, where he helped lead the Cardinals to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. In his debut as a Cardinal, Smith broke the record for most points scored by a freshman in his first game (24), and ended his career with 1,203 points.
Prior to Louisville excelled at Wauwatosa East High School, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,673 points. As a senior, he averaged 25.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.0 assists and earned Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year.
Kaden Lecapitaine joined Green Bay men’s basketball as the Director of Video and Analytics on June 24th, 2024, and will now transition to the Director of Basketball Operations for the 2025-26 season.
Lecapitaine joined the Phoenix from Marquette, where he most recently served as the head student manager for Marquette men’s basketball. Lecapitaine managed a full staff of student managers and assisted in recruiting processes as well as scouting reports.
Lecapitaine graduated from Marquette with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2024 after graduating from Green Bay Preble High School in 2020.
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