Doug Gottlieb, Green Bay land 28-year-old transfer Ramel Bethea, likely oldest Division I player for 2025-26

Doug Gottlieb and Green Bay may have landed the oldest player in Division I college basketball for the 2025-26 season with 28-year-old Ramel Bethea committing to the Phoenix. The 6-foot-9 big man turns 29 in July — older than NBA MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26) and just slightly younger than fellow finalists Giannis Antetokounmpo (30) and Nikola Jokic (30). BYU guard Trevin Knell, 26, was the oldest Division I player last season after delaying the start of his career to serve a mission in Uruguay.

Bethea spent five years in the military before joining MiraCosta College in San Diego as a freshman for the 2024-25 season. Bethea averaged team-highs with 12.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 56.3% from the field.

Bethea posted six double-doubles during the first two months of the season, gaining attention from Division I programs. According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, Phoenix assistant coach Aerick Sanders traveled to California in January to watch Bethea and came away impressed.

"He was like, 'Coach, there is this kid who I think he's 27, but he was in the military," Gottlieb told the Green Bay Press Gazette. "He's like, 'He's a (expletive) freak.' ... He has so much potential. It's crazy."

At least 25 Division I programs showed an interest in Bethea as an inexperienced transfer who, prior to his time at MiraCosta, only played in a few Armed Forces tournaments during his time in the Navy, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

"When the transfer portal opened up, a lot of schools that reached out to me might have picked from the transfer portal and forgot about me," Bethea told the Green Bay Press Gazette. "Green Bay was one of those schools that pretty much didn't forget about me. I went on a visit with Eastern Kentucky, but it was my first visit, and I didn't want to make a decision then. Once I made a visit with them, a lot of schools that kind of forgot about me saw the picture and was like, 'Oh, snap, that guy again.'

"A lot of schools reached out to me again, but Green Bay, they came to one of my games. I started to become more knowledgeable about the politics of basketball throughout the season and started to learn why certain things happen. One season and a good recruiting class, that's all it takes to turn a program around."

Green Bay had a rough season, to say the least, in 2024-25 under Gottlieb, a first-time college head coach. The Phoenix finished 4-28 overall, including a 21-game losing streak from mid-November to mid-February.