Badger basketball head coach Bo Ryan announcement Tuesday night that his retirement is effective immediately.
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The Wisconsin men’s basketball team stopped their home losing skid Tuesday by defeating Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.
Ryan said that he and Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez decided the end of the semester-tonight was the last game before finals-was the best time to hand the team over to assistant coach Greg Gard.
Ryan coached Wisconsin to a school-record 36 victories last season and a loss in the national-championship game to Duke.
Ryan retires as the winningest coach in Wisconsin history, and led the Badgers to the NCAA tournament in every year of his career with the team. “I discussed this with Barry and I appreciate him giving me the space to make this decision”.
Watch for the Wildcats to dismantle this team, but this will not turn many heads around the nation because the team has still not had a big win this season despite their impressive record.
“What they say in the National Basketball Association, sometimes you get a trash game that you’ve just got to throw away and get it out of your system and move on”. Back in June, Ryan had said he would coach this season and then step down as the team’s head coach. Gard, in his 23rd year as Ryan’s assistant, takes over the job on an interim basis.
Ryan stayed on, wanting to make sure Gard was able to spend as much time as possible with his ailing father.
Bo Ryan has retired as head coach of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is 7-5 through its first 12 games, including three losses at the Kohl Center. He first joined Ryan’s staff at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville then followed him to Wisconsin-Milwaukee before coming to Madison. However, this directly affects the Big Ten conference and one of its most storied coaches is leaving the ranks. Gard has helped Ryan build Wisconsin into a Big Ten power.
“His record speaks for himself”.
It will take some time for Wisconsin to adjust as Ryan transitions into retirement, but the Badgers will look to carry on his legacy and maintain a winning culture in the years to come. He has worked with Ryan for 20 seasons, including 14-plus years in Madison. By retiring now, Ryan will have never coached a full Wisconsin season without making the Big Dance and finishing in the Big Ten top four.
“Thank you Coach Ryan for molding me into a young man”, Dekker, who is now a rookie with the Houston Rockets, posted on Twitter.
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Wisconsin also enjoyed tremendous off-court success, routinely posting a cumulative grade-point average between 2.9 and 3.1, including a high of 3.04 in the fall of 2008.
