Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has announced his retirement. And Ryan had to know that stepping away now would also eliminate the cloud of uncertainty hanging over recruiting, which ultimately harms Gard’s chances in relation to other head coaching candidates. They won seven Big Ten titles.
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Last year, Bo Ryan had the most successful season of his career, setting a school record with 36 wins in a season. Alvarez advised Ryan to take some time to think it over.
Associate head coach Greg Gard, who has been an assistant on Ryan’s staffs at three different stops since 1993 (Wisconsin-Platteville, Milwaukee and Wisconsin), will be interim head coach until season’s end. “I think this gives him the best chance of becoming the next coach”.
This season, after its star players Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker left, the Badgers started this season a disappointing 7-5.
“Every coach would like their top assistant to be the coach”, Ryan said after a 64-49 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Gard said he’ll “make sure I still have (Ryan’s) phone number”.
Ryan’s had Gard, who grew up in tiny Cobb in southwestern Wisconsin, by his side ever since. Hayes said never makes eye contact with Ryan as the lineup is announced.
“Those guys are extremely important to me in that locker room”, Gard said. When Davis was Iowa’s coach, Ryan brought his team to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for practices and attended several games. His accolades will be acknowledged through the coming weeks and months as the Badgers look to regroup, but it’s the personality and the way he coached that made him so great. During Ryan’s tenure the Badgers never finished worse than fourth in the Big Ten in any season.
“He’s been really good for me, on and off the court, stressing the importance of getting good grades and getting your degree”, junior guard Bronson Koenig said of Gard, who recruited the four-star point guard out of La Crosse, before the season.
Bo Ryan’s 68th birthday comes in four days, and won’t that be a odd one?
The Badgers were always a threat in the Big Ten.
Ryan will be remembered for leading Wisconsin to a win against an undefeated Kentucky team in last season’s national semifinals. Even a supposedly late bloomer such as Jim Calhoun, who did not get a shot at the Big East stage until he was 44, already had been at Northeastern 14 years before that. “As I’ve said before, I knew I might not be 100 percent, but I wanted to give it a go for my team”.
If that is any indication, Gard might end up being more than just an interim, if Ryan wants him as his successor.
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Keeping Gard in place going forward seems like the smart choice, but there’s certainly more at play here, particularly as it pertains to Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett.
