(WFRV) – After a 4-28 season in year one of the Doug Gottlieb era, the Green Bay men’s basketball coach recruited 28-year-old Ramel Bethea in hopes of turning the program around.
Bethea, who will turn 29 later in July, has a story like no other. With little interest in sports after graduating high school in 2014, he found himself unsure of what came next.
“I took it as, ‘Let me go get a job,’ rather than, ‘Let me go find a career,’” Bethea told Local 5. “I started getting into little jobs—Dunkin’ Donuts, Target, grocery stores, and stuff like that.”
But one conversation changed the course of his life.
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“A Marine recruiter actually saw me in the store—she was basically doing her job and recruiting,” Bethea explained. “She brought me to the office. I couldn’t join the Marines because, at that time, they were strict on tattoos. So they pointed me to the Navy. That was one of the best stepping stones of my life.”
Stationed in Virginia, Bethea served five years in the Navy, where he started playing basketball as a hobby. That hobby quickly turned into a source of motivation, fueled by those around him.
“It matured me a lot. I’m still a little goofy, but it was the perfect stepping stone to start taking life seriously and figure out what I’m here for,” Bethea said. “I was in the military—around 25 at the time—playing in basketball tournaments. I liked basketball, but I didn’t really like it that much. I’d play if they asked me to. I just kept doing it to get away from military life, and I was getting better and better. I started to like it more, met new friends and people. It opened so many doors.”
That motivation led Bethea to MiraCosta College on the West Coast in 2024. He went from pickup games in the Navy to collegiate basketball.
“I decided to take a risk—go get a degree and play basketball to see where it could take me. So far? It’s taken me to different places.”
Bethea spent one year at MiraCosta, where he averaged 12.7 points per game in 29 appearances.
Now, more than a decade after graduating high school, the 6’9” Bethea—with a wingspan measured at 7’4”—joins the Green Bay men’s basketball program for the 2024–25 season as a 28-year-old sophomore, ready to help Gottlieb rebuild.
“When I go home after practice and sit down on my bed, I’m like, ‘Dang, I’m really out here doing this,’” Bethea said.
“He graduated high school looking like [Steve Urkel], right? 6’3”, 130 pounds, and he never played high school basketball,” Gottlieb added. “If you want a reference point, he didn’t even watch basketball. He learned to play by playing 2K. Then, when he started playing three years ago, it all kind of made sense to him, like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve done this on 2K before.’ And he looks like a 2K player.”
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In addition to balancing Division I basketball and full-time college classes, Bethea is also a father to his four-year-old son, who now gets to watch his dad live life with no regrets.
“To me, it’s just so simple. Go to school and play basketball,” Bethea told Local 5. “To others? It’s motivational. The footsteps I’m going to have him follow in will be a little different than mine. I’m going to have him start way earlier than I did. I want to raise a little basketball player. And if that’s what he wants to do, he’ll be proud of what his dad did.”
With significant turnover on the Green Bay roster heading into the season, Bethea is one of eight newcomers for the Phoenix.
“He has that rare combination—a unique story, a unique physical build, and the discipline of having served in the Navy. And he’s just a great human being,” said Coach Gottlieb. “His whole personality and presence are infectious. You can’t teach a 7’4” wingspan—and he’s got timing. If that’s not worth the price of admission, I don’t know what is.”
The Phoenix will open the 2024–25 season on the road against Kansas this fall.
