The announcement came after the Badger’s game against Texas A&M, which Ryan said was his last game as head coach. “That’s a joy. The thing was, I thought it was time”. “But I couldn’t make the decision at the time”. He did it on his terms, on a quiet Tuesday night following a game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Last season, he led the Badgers to the national championship game, where they fell to Duke and finished as national runners-up. He wanted to leave in June, but Gard’s father was ill. Ryan created magic on the hardwood at a school that had gained the majority of its attention on the gridiron, mostly under former head football coach Barry Alvarez, who is now the athletic director and tasked with replacing Ryan. “I just felt like we had some opportunities and we didn’t convert and we lost a lot of confidence over the course of the game”, Ryan said. And the four Big Ten coach of the year awards. In three months, Gard has to overcome the doubts of his employer with a team that is, through 12 games, off to its worst start since 2001-02. He guided the Badgers to consecutive Final Four bids in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Four Big 10 titles, 14 trips to the NCAA tournament and of course, back to back Final Fours.
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Ryan is the all-time winningest coach in Wisconsin history with a record of 364-130.
A native of Chester, Pennsylvania, Bo Ryan led the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament every year of his tenure. Ryan, who turns 68 next week, amassed 747 career wins as a head coach since 1984.
That such coaches as Tony Bennett of Virginia or Archie Miller of Dayton are now being publicly discussed as potential candidates is an illustration of how much has changed about Wisconsin during Ryan’s time.
Playing in arguably the nation’s toughest conference, Wisconsin is now facing an uphill battle is it seeks to attract top-tier high school talent to Madison without the man who built the program into a national power. He is truly a Hall of Fame coach…. “He will be missed”. They include: Kirk Penney (honorable mention in 2003), Devin Harris (second team in 2004), Alando Tucker (first team in 2007), Jon Leuer (honorable mention in 2011), Jordan Taylor (second team in 2011 and honorable mention in 2012) and the 2015 consensus national player of the year Frank Kaminsky (first team in 2015).
Bo Ryan has made up his mind.
Bo Ryan knew there was life after basketball.
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The numbers and records you will continue hearing over the next few days and weeks in reference to Bo Ryan can only hint at the mark he is leaving on Wisconsin’s program and the state of the game in Wisconsin itself. The Islanders shot 33 percent from the field, hit 7 of 12 from the line and committed 24 fouls.
