Alvarez said he’ll evaluate the work of Gard and the staff for the remainder of the season and decide then, whether to name Gard the full-time coach or look elsewhere.
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Stymied in his first attempt to hand the job over to his right-hand man, Bo Ryan ignored precedent and went a similar route as Bennett in one final wily endeavor as the Wisconsin head coach.
BREAKING: Bo Ryan makes it official, announces retirement as @BadgerMBB head coach.
“I think the biggest thing for me is not to treat it any differently”. Ryan told ESPN on Wednesday thatassociate head coach Greg Gard, a longtime Badgers assistant who will take over the program on an interim basis, needs to keep the team together and demonstrate that it is improving. “I think this gives him the best chance of becoming the next coach”.
Ryan, whose team won 36 games a year ago, had tentatively set his retirement for the end of the season, but instead took the semester break at Wisconsin to step aside.
But is Gard ready to replace Ryan and take over a team that is 7-5? He did it on his terms, on a quiet Tuesday night following a game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“You knew this day was coming with coach Ryan”, Gard said.
A 2015 Naismith Hall of Fame finalist, Ryan retires with 747 career wins and 19 championships.
The players appeared to be a little dazed after the game, even though Ryan had discussed retirement for months. “I guess now it makes sense why he looked like that”.
Under Ryan, the Badgers were 16-11 against the Buckeyes. “He’s very bright.” Ryan started his journey in 1972 as a junior varsity high school coach outside of Philadelphia, slowly climbing the coaching ranks through the high school, Division III and finally Division I ranks.
Ryan had 14 seasons and 14 NCAA tournament appearances with the Badgers.
“My response has always been ‘Absolutely, there should be, ‘” said Gard. “That’s his job, and I’ve never flinched or blinked from that”.
Assistant Greg Gard has been named Wisconsin’s interim coach.
He was 364-130 at UW, a run that included 14 consecutive top-four finishes in the Big Ten, four regular-season titles and three conference tournament championships.
Ryan, Alvarez and Gard all spoke to the Badgers in the locker room following the win.
As for if and how the program will change under Gard’s leadership, Jeff says he expects to see a lot of similarities. Ryan has been coaching college basketball since 1984, and was an assistant for nearly a decade before that. “He has been yelling and screaming for quite some time”.
Though that same stubbornness also led to a few awkward exchanges with the media over the years, it was a clue as to how the end of Ryan’s career would play out.
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Alvarez may choose circumvent Ryan’s wishes and pursue Bennett instead of Gard going forward, throwing the future of the Badgers into question.
