Wisconsin Basketball: Who should become the Badgers next head coach

The cry for removing Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard has steadily grown louder and louder throughout the disappointing regular season. Following the very disappointing first-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament and subsequent rejection by the NCAA tournament committee, that cry became a roar.

These fans like to point out how Wisconsin fired their football coach Paul Chryst when he was performing up to acceptable standards of success for Wisconsin athletics. Gard’s critics use the most recent example of the firing of Wisconsin hockey coach Tony Granato. “Basketball is been slipping,” they exclaim, “give Gard the axe.”

The hockey comparison is an incomplete one because Wisconsin has not officially hired anyone. The comparison between Gard and Chryst, however, fails because the college head coaching landscape is so much different than the football one. Next to Colorado’s signing of Deion Sanders, UW’s hiring of Luke Fickell is widely recognized as the second-biggest coaching change in the off-season.

Wisconsin’s football program has a high enough reputation and level of prestige that it could pull an emerging star head coach from a successful non-power 5 school (Cincinnati made the College Football Playoffs in 2021) to Madison.

Can Wisconsin’s basketball program do the same?

Let’s assume, for the sake of this article, that they can. Without further ado, let’s look at the best coaching candidate for the Badgers.

Coaching prerequisites

I think that a head coach of any sports team in a major university should be both a good coach and, sadly, a good salesman. Wisconsin is not what you would consider a “blue blood” in basketball, so reputation isn’t going to draw kids to it.

What Wisconsin basketball possess is the Big Ten conference. Even though this year’s NCAA tournament results were not the greatest, the fact remains that eight schools made it into the conference.

While Wisconsin might not be the first location that kids dream about when thinking of their college destination, once they set foot on the campus, UW sells itself. It has world-class facilities and an academic reputation second to none in the Big Ten.

So, the perfect coach should be a superior tactician, a great motivator, and a world-class salesman. Interestingly enough, there is a former coach, bound for the College Hall of Fame, that meets all of these criteria and has coached at a school with very similar attributes to Wisconsin.

Former Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

What Jay Wright Would Bring To Wisconsin Basketball

Villanova basketball had a successful history, winning a national championship in 1985. However, they also had their fair share of controversy as well. After Rollie Massimino left in 1991-92, Steve Lappas was hired as the Wildcats’ next head coach. They had moderate success in his nine seasons as head coach, making four NCAA appearances and three NIT berths. However, Lappas retired in 2001.

When Jay Wright was appointed as Villanova’s 8th head coach, he inherited a team that had not made the NCAA tournament in two seasons. It took him four seasons to get back. In his fifth campaign, his squad earned a number-one seed and his teams went on to earn three more number-one seeds and four number-twos. Bo Ryan, who started at UW the same season as Wright did at Villanova, only earned one number-one seed and two number-twos.

Then there are the two National Championships in a span of three seasons that Wright won while coaching at Villanova.

One of the big knocks against Greg Gard is his recruiting, or lack thereof. From 2003-2022, Villanova’s recruiting class averaged 52nd in the nation, including three different classes in the top 10. Gard’s Wisconsin basketball recruiting classes have averaged 65th in the nation.

He coached 17 players that ended up in the NBA, which actually fairs rather comparably to the 14 former Wisconsin basketball players that have laced up in the NBA.

It would appear that the level of quality players going into Villanova and Wisconsin are fairly comparable over the course of the last 22 years. What, then, explains the much more successful program?

That would be the quality of coaching. How else do you explain a 35-14 record in the NCAA tournament while he was at Villanova?

He cited not having “the competitive fire anymore”. This past year, his first away from coaching, he was a studio analyst for CBS. So he still clearly has a love for the game.

There are two major factors that make Wisconsin’s hiring of Luke Fickell such a positive step forward. He’s had success in coaching, going 57-18 is his six seasons at Cincinnati. He’s also seen as an up-and-coming great coach, which in turn generates a lot of excitement for the future.

This is exactly the type of hire that would generate massive amounts of excitement for a basketball program that some think has stagnated. Bringing in a coach that has won two National Championships in this century instantly makes Wisconsin relevant in the recruiting landscape. Being a Philadelphia guy, he has the ability to tap into that fertile recruiting ground, allowing Wisconsin’s recruiting footprint to grow.

I think that Wisconsin basketball should only part with Greg Gard if the new coaching hire significantly upgrades the program. Jerold Taylor “Jay” Wright, Jr., would do exactly that.

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