The day has finally come. Former Wisconsin Men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan has been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
This has been a long time coming, as nobody has embodied a better coach than Bo Ryan.
The career of Bo Ryan:
Before he was known as the fiery coach for Wisconsin, Ryan learned under his own toughest coach. His father Butch.
Butch Ryan was a legendary coach in Chester, Pa, coaching youth sports and helping Bo transform into a successful point guard. Bo also played quarterback and lettered in baseball.
Ryan was a star point guard for Wilkes College (1965-69), where he totaled 807 points, 278 rebounds, and 276 assists and has the record for most field goals in a game when he hit 18 of 28 shots en route to a 43-point performance against Susquehanna in 1969 (via Gowilkes.com)
Upon graduation, Ryan was drafted into the Army and served from 1969-72, where he worked as a military policeman and was promoted to sergeant.
Ryan began his coaching career in 1972 at Brookhaven High School in Delaware County, PA, where he worked as a history teacher and head basketball coach for one year.
Ryan began his collegiate coaching career serving as assistant coach to Bill Cofield from 1973-74. After the school closed in 1974 due to financial issues, Ryan became the head basketball coach at Sun Valley High School in Aston, PA. He was named conference coach of the year in 1976.
Bo Ryan’s first Division I job had him reunited with a familiar face
After his tenure at Sun Valley, Ryan was awarded his first Division I job by a coach he worked with a few years earlier. Bill Cofield was named Wisconsin’s coach in 1976.
Cofield spent seven years as a coach at Wisconsin before his unfortunate passing from cancer in 1983. Ryan finished his assistant coaching career under Steve Yoder from 1982-84 before he took the job at little-known Division III school UW-Platteville.
Bo Ryan’s career at UW-Platteville:
This is where the journey of Bo Ryan’s success story begins.
In 1984, he took the Platteville job and turned the program into a powerhouse. In 15 years, Ryan recorded a 353-76 overall record, and his 82.2 winning percentage is the best in the history of Division III basketball (Via Letsgopioneers.com).
Ryan won eight conference titles and nine straight tournament Divison III tournament appearances. UW-Platteville won national titles in 1991, 1995, 1998, and his final year in 1999. The Pioneers were 30-5 in NCAA Tournament play.
On January. 27, 2007, UW-Plateville named the court after their famed coach, The Bo Ryan Court.
Bo Ryan’s career at UW-Milwaukee and Wisconsin
After his successful run at UW-Platteville, Ryan was back in the Division I college ranks, this time as coach of UW-Milwaukee Panthers.
Ryan rejuvenated UWM. He led the Panthers to back-to-back double-digit winning seasons for the first time since the 1993-94 season.
Ryan’s time at UWM would be short-lived, as it was time for him to return to the spot where he received his first Division I job. Ryan was back coaching the Badgers, this time as the head coach.
After Dick Bennett retired two games into the 2000-01 season, citing burnout and assistant coach Brad Soderberg took over as interim for the rest of the year.
Soderberg wasn’t considered for the full-time position. Athletic Director Pat Richter set his sights on former Marquette coach Rick Majerus, but after Majerus pulled his name out of the running, Richter hired Ryan as the program 13th’s coach.
Ryan set several milestones in his legendary Wisconsin career. In the 2006-07 season, Ryan helped guide Wisconsin to new heights, as he helped them achieve their first-ever top-five ranking and number one in the AP Poll.
On March 9, 2012, with a win against Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament, Ryan became the winningest coach in program history, as Ryan won his 266th career game at Wisconsin, pushing him past Bud Foster, who coached the team from 1934-59.
The 2013-14 Wisconsin team was Ryan’s best coaching job. A team under the radar heading into the season, the team lost five of six in the middle of the season but rattled off eight wins to give them momentum heading into the tournament.
After losing to Michigan State in the Quarterfinal of the Big Ten Tournament, Ryan had his team set their sights on a bigger goal.
After a dismantling 75-35 victory against American in the first round, the round of 32 games against Oregon looked bleak.
Wisconsin trailed by 12 in the first half, where Sam Dekker got hit in the mouth and Ryan picked up a technical foul. There was a chance this game would have ended like all the other tournament games in UW history…. In disappointment.
But Wisconsin continued to claw their way back until senior Ben Ben Brust hit a three with 1:09 left to give Wisconsin a 77-75 lead and survive 85-77 to go to the Sweet 16.
Wisconsin was too much for Baylor as Frank Kaminsky dropped 19 points en route to a 69-52 victory. The team was moving on to the Elite 8 against the Arizona Wildcats.
This game was neck-and-neck throughout, but Wisconsin pulled off a 64-63 victory to their third Final Four. Unfortunately, this is where Wisconsin’s magical run came to an end. Kentucky Freshman guard Aaron Harrison hit a long-range bomb with 5.7 seconds left. Junior guard Traevon Jackson had his shot bounce out, and that was it, season over 74-73 Kentucky.
Ryan wouldn’t be done as next year’s team dominated College Basketball. Ryan’s 2014-15 squad went 36-4 overall and 16-2 in the Big Ten.
As Wisconsin rolled through the regular season and the tournament, they had one foe they needed to conquer Kentucky Wildcats.
One of the greatest college basketball teams assembled, Kentucky was led by four five-star recruits (Karl Anthony-Towns, Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis, and Devin Booker.) Kentucky also had Aaron and Andrew Harrison back for their second year.
Similar to Wisconsin, Kentucky rolled through every opponent and was 38-0 heading into the game.
A close game throughout, with prized recruit Sam Dekker, whom coach Ryan could be tough on, had the tournament of his life, nailed the biggest three in Wisconsin history with 1:41 left to give Wisconsin the lead for good. Wisconsin upset undefeated Kentucky 71-64 to move on to the championship game against Duke Blue Devils, coached by long-time coach Mike Krzyzewski.
These two teams were familiar with each other, as the Blue Devils came into Kohl Center and knocked off the Badgers 80-70 during the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Blue Devils were led by freshman Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, Grayson Allen, and veterans Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson. This team was going to be a tough matchup for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin took a nine-point lead midway through the second half, but that’s where Duke got hot. Key shots by Grayson Allen, a sparingly used freshman, and Tyus Jones helped Duke storm back, and Jones put the final nail in the coffin as Duke and Coach K won their fifth national championship 68-63.
That would be the end of Bo Ryan’s coaching career, as he announced his retirement in the summer of 2015 but later backtracked.
He eventually revealed in his final win on December 15, 2015, against Texas A&M Corpus Christi that the plan was for long-time associate head Greg Gard to take over before the season. Greg’s father Glen was diagnosed with brain cancer, and Bo didn’t feel it was appropriate to hand the reigns off to Gard during his family matter.
Nobody embodies a Hall of Famer more than Bo Ryan. He went 747-233 as a college coach and 364-130 at Wisconsin. It’s a travesty he didn’t get in sooner because if you want to talk about a coach who’s won at every level and coached tough players who showed up every game and gave 200 percent effort.
Congratulations to Coach Ryan on a job well done. We’re happy you’re rightfully being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
"I was very emotional because of what it means to everybody that I've been associated with that has helped along the way"
Bo Ryan reacts to being selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 pic.twitter.com/7nWItClgUl
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) April 6, 2024
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