Wisconsin Badgers Basketball: Bo Ryan’s Sudden Retirement Leaves Wisconsin Reeling

With no word yet on the reason why Bo Ryan is leaving, Badgers assistant Greg Gard will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Just as Bo Ryan said in his final postgame press conference, we knew this day was coming, we just didn’t know it would be tonight.

Following a 64-49 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the longtime Badgers head coach called it quits during his press conference. As expected, Ryan was visibly emotional as he delivered the news that he coached his last game at Wisconsin:

“Time wise, I know how things get out and how people talk; if anything, if we had planned something, you know it would have happened that way,” said Ryan. “This way we get to finish out the last game of the semester.”

Ryan also indicated that not everyone was aware of his decision to retire following the game, hinting that there may be more information to come, which could shed more light on the abrupt decision to retire.

From Wisconsin’s statement:

"“After months of conversation with Barry Alvarez and his administrative staff, as well as my wife, Kelly, I have decided that now is the right time to step down from the head coaching position here at Wisconsin,” Ryan said.“This was a decision months in the making. I brought this up to Barry back in April. He advised me to take some time to think it over and I appreciated that. But in recent weeks, I have come to the conclusion that 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. I discussed this with Barry and I appreciate him giving me the space to make this decision.”“I want to thank Bo Ryan for everything he has done for our athletic department, the state of Wisconsin and certainly the Badgers basketball program,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said. “He oversaw an incredible run of sustained success and helped elevate Wisconsin among the nation’s elite programs. He is truly a Hall of Fame coach and led our program to the most successful era in school history. He will be missed.”"

While the news was sudden, talk of Ryan’s retirement started long before the season started, as Ryan announced that he would step down back in April. Ryan would later walk that statement back, saying that he could coach for sometime ahead, with no more being said about his coaching status until tonight.

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Now that the info is out, the speculation as to why immediately begins.

There are a number of schools of thought on the issue already, with some looking to a couple of examples to help explain why Ryan would choose now as opposed to finishing out the season. Early in the South Carolina Gamecocks football season this year, legendary head coach Steve Spurrier stepped down, but his season was certainly a losing one.

Ryan’s predecessor, Dick Bennett, retired three games into his sixth season at Wisconsin, following his first and only Final Four appearance. Bennett cited burnout as his reason for stepping down so early in the season. Bennett would later come out of retirement to coach the Washington State Cougars for three seasons before calling it quits for good in 2006.

At the time of Ryan’s retirement, the Badgers were 7-5 heading into the Big Ten season which starts in less than two weeks. The soft record was expected with the departure of so much of Wisconsin’s talent base, which included Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.

Sources speculate that while no one expected Ryan to retire so soon, there was some concern that his final season threatened to be an overall lackluster one, prompting an early exit in order to save some face, and give interim head coach Gard a chance to get a full Big Ten season under his belt.

Despite Ryan’s desire for Gard to succeed him as the permanent head coach, Badger athletic director Barry Alvarez seems noncommittal at this point.

Ryan ends his coaching career with 747 wins, 16 conference championships (five Big Ten, nine WIAC) and four NCAA D-III championships. During his 14-year tenure with the Badgers, Ryan won more than any other coach, with 364 wins and a 72 percent winning record in Big Ten play. Overall, Ryan ranks 27th on the NCAA’s all-time wins list.

No one knows what the future holds for the Badgers program, but without Ryan at the helm, the future, at least in the short term, is definitely at risk. Gard, 44, is Ryan’s longest-serving assistant, dating back to UW-Platteville and UW-Milwaukee. If anyone knows Ryan’s system for success, it would be Gard, who was a big part of putting it all together.

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. Bennett worked the bench for both his father, Dick Bennett and Ryan, remaining with the program as an assistant until 2003. Bennett is coming off two straight ACC conference championships and is currently 6-1 this season.

Alvarez may choose circumvent Ryan’s wishes and pursue Bennett instead of Gard going forward, throwing the future of the Badgers into question. Bennett would certainly be a good hire, and would probably leap from the Duke-owned ACC to take over what has been the best program in the Big Ten.

If maintaining a power base atop the Big Ten is the most important goal, then keeping Gard in the head coaching role might be a stretch. In either case, Gard is about to undergo a true trial-by-fire that is every bit the “tryout” that Alvarez said during the press conference.

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As for the 67 year-old Ryan, we’ll know very soon if his decision to leave (something he probably should’ve done at the end of last season’s impressive tournament run, where the Badgers made it all the way to the national championship game) was caused by outside issues such as health, a chess move to ensure that Gard ended up with the job, or just a general sense of being burned out and choosing to walk away and be remembered as a winner.

In either case, Wisconsin will feel the potentially crippling impact of Ryan’s absence immediately as the season marches on without it’s legendary coach.