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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 5:47 pm Post subject: Bo Ryan to retire from Wisconsin after next season |
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Probably would've done it this year had they won the championship game.
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/29/bo-ryan-to-retire-from-wisconsin-after-next-season/
| Quote: | Bo Ryan to retire from Wisconsin after next season
Bo Ryan’s legendary career as the men’s basketball coach at Wisconsin is nearly done.
On Monday, Ryan put out a statement announcing that he will coach the Badgers for one more season with the hope that his longtime assistant, Greg Gard, will take over the program the following year.
“Back in the spring, in the days after the national championship game, (UW Director of Athletics) Barry Alvarez and I discussed the possibility of me retiring,” Ryan said. “I’ve always been told tht is not a decision to make right after a season is completed. Barry Thankfully encouraged me to take some time to think about it and I have done that. I considered retiring this summer or coaching one more season.”
Ryan is coming off the two best seasons in his tenure with the Badgers, as Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and company led the Badgers to back-to-back Final Fours, including an appearance in the 2015 national title game. With five of the top seven players from last year’s team gone to either graduation or the NBA, the Badgers will be in a bit of a rebuilding mode this season.
But Ryan never dealt with a true rebuilding season in his tenure. He’s been the head coach in Madison since 2001 and he’s never finished worse than tied for fourth in the conference. He’s turned the Badgers into a bonafide Big Ten powerhouse, a team that was widely considered one of the best in the country the last two years. And he did all that while developing the kind of culture and development, both on and off the court, that makes the sport of college basketball special.
Bo never needed to recruit the best player in the country. He needed the guys that fit into his system and bought into the idea that hard work and patience will turn them into their best selves.
It will be interesting to see whether Gard, if he is the man tasked with taking over for Ryan, will be able to continue the growth of the program.
What will be more interesting, however, is whether or not Ryan will get consideration for the Hall of Fame. His sustained excellence at Wisconsin is as impressive as any coaching job since the turn of the century, save for maybe Bill Self’s run of 11 consecutive Big 12 titles.
But that may not even be the most impressive stretch of Ryan’s coaching career. While at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville, Ryan won three national titles in five seasons and four total in a nine-year stretch. In his last twelve seasons with Platteville, he won eight league regular season titles, including his last five years with the program. He never lost more than five games in a season during those last 12 seasons at Platteville, and in those five straight years where his team won a league title, they lost eight games total, just four games in conference play and finished undefeated in two years.
For those that don’t know much about Division III basketball, the WCIAC — the league Platteville plays in — is equivalent to the ACC. It’s the arguably best conference in the country every year, and Ryan absolutely dominated it.
There are currently six active head coaches in the Hall of Fame — Jim Boeheim, Larry Brown, John Calipari, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino; Chris Mullin is a Hall of Famer as a player.
Ryan may not have the same name cache as those six, but he’s every bit as good of a basketball coach.
If I had a vote, he’d get it. |
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Basketball Fan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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http://my.xfinity.com/articles/sports-cbk/20151216/Wisconsin-Ryan.Retires/
| Quote: | Ryan retires at midseason, ending successful Wisconsin run
The methodical brand of basketball that Bo Ryan ran at Wisconsin rarely surprised opponents as it piled up wins and two trips to the Final Four over the last two seasons.
Ryan saved the biggest shocker of his career for his final game.
The 67-year-old coach abruptly retired on Tuesday night, 12 games into the season after his Badgers beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi two weeks before Big Ten play begins.
No farewell tour. No muss, no fuss.
Just the way he wanted it. Ryan had discussed retirement for months, but never offered any specific timetable.
''It is so emotional right now, and I'm trying to hold this together,'' Ryan said as he began to wrap up his remarks.
He had a prepared speech ready to go, printed on a white piece of paper, but decided at the last second to set it aside and speak from the heart in his last news conference as head coach.
''Can't put that into words,'' Ryan said. ''I can't do that. I've got to tell you how I feel.''
It was classic Bo - rarely shy to hold back, whether it was about a call, his team or the future.
And it's in part what started the ''Will he or won't he?'' retire drama in the first place.
Ryan, who turns 68 on Sunday, said in June this would be his last season. He had told athletic director Barry Alvarez of his plans after the Final Four in April, but Alvarez advised him to give it some time, and not to make a decision right after the end of the season.
At a charity golf event in August, Ryan left the door open to return.
In making his announcement on Tuesday, Ryan revealed another factor in the timing. He said he would have retired in June, but associate head coach Greg Gard's father had just been diagnosed with brain cancer.
Ryan said the demands on Gard's time to fly around the country meeting with doctors and helping his dad put his retirement on the back burner. The elder Gard died on Oct. 30.
Ryan later talked to Alvarez. He said that he came to a decision in recent weeks that the semester break would be a good time to step down.
Gard was named the interim head coach by Alvarez.
''Every coach would like their top assistant to be the coach,'' Ryan said after the 64-49 victory in his final game.
Gard is considered one of the top assistants in the game. He has worked with Ryan for 20 seasons, including 14-plus years in Madison.
He still has a tough act to follow.
With 364 victories, Ryan is Wisconsin's winningest coach.
Ryan finished with a career mark of 747-233, good for 27th on the NCAA career wins list when counting successful tenures at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Division III Wisconsin-Platteville. He won four national titles at Platteville.
But it's in the Big Ten where Ryan especially made his mark with 14 straight NCAA appearances and seven conference championships. In 2014-15, his final full season, Wisconsin finished a school record 36-4 and advanced to the NCAA title game, losing to Duke.
Those squads relied on upperclassmen and defense in an era of one-of-done headliners. Ryan molded offensive stars, for sure, like Sam Dekker and 2014-15 national player of the year Frank Kaminsky, but players knew they had to play defense and play with smarts to earn time.
''Thank you Coach Ryan for molding me into a young man,'' Dekker, who is now a rookie with the Houston Rockets, posted on Twitter. Dekker left after his junior season.
''Wish I could argue with you one more time,'' Dekker wrote. ''All love to Pops!!''
Ryan drew national criticism in 2012 when he tried to restrict forward Jarrod Uthoff from transferring from Wisconsin to another Big Ten school. Uthoff ended up transferring anyway to his home state Iowa Hawkeyes after redshirting for a season.
Ryan could certainly be brusque. He tended to have a relatively quiet sideline demeanor during games, but wasn't shy to express his displeasure with calls.
Ryan seemed to be in his element especially at practice, where he loved to teach. Off the court, he could be a charmer and command a room with his stories.
A native of the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Ryan still had a hint of a Philly accent and street-smart persona even after all these years in Midwest.
He considered it a joy to be able to lead the Badgers six months longer than he had anticipated.
''But I knew, I knew the energy level ... the speaking, the traveling, the trying to do other things, to help other people - I enjoy doing it, but the thing was, I felt it was time,'' said Ryan, his eyes appearing to well up with tears. ''But I couldn't make the decision at the time.''
That time finally came on Tuesday. |
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