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UW Basketball Coach Bo Ryan Announces Retirement

Longtime Coach Will Step Down Immediately

By
Courtesy of Wisconsin Public Television

Longtime University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball coach Bo Ryan announced on Tuesday that he was retiring, effective immediately.

Ryan said he was stepping down after the Badgers bested Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by a 64-49 margin on Tuesday night.

The school sent out a release after the game. Assistant Greg Gard takes over as interim coach.

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Ryan coached Wisconsin to a school-record 36 wins last season and a loss in the national championship to Duke.

The Badgers are off to a slow start this year with a 7-5 record.

Ryan said he recently decided “now is the right time for me to retire and for Greg Gard to have the opportunity to coach the team for the remainder of the season.”

He finishes with a school-record 364 wins and seven Big Ten titles.

Last June, Ryan announced on the team’s Twitter account that he would retire at the end of next season. In that statement, Ryan wrote that he had considered retiring this summer, but ultimately decided to stay on for one more year. He also wrote that once he leaves next year, he wanted Gard to take over.

Ryan has become a beloved figure in Wisconsin sports culture over the 14 years he’s served as head coach of the Badgers. Part of that is due to a history of success. the team has gone to the NCAA tournament in every one of Ryan’s seasons as head coach.

His last two seasons coaching the team have been especially noteworthy: The Badgers made back-to-back Final Four appearances, and played for the national championship this past spring.

Ryan rose through the ranks of the University of Wisconsin System before arriving in Madison. He served as head coach at UW-Milwaukee between 1999 and 2001, and spent 15 years before that coaching UW-Platteville. His record commanding the Platteville Pioneers was especially impressive: During his tenure as coach, the team won four NCAA Division III national championships and became the winningest NCAA team of the 1990s, posting a 266-26 record.

Stay tuned to Wisconsin Public Radio and WPR.org for continuing coverage.