Bo Ryan

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Bo Ryan
Title Head coach
College Wisconsin
Sport Basketball
Team record 173-60 (.742)
Born December 20, 1947 (1947-12-20) (age 60)
Place of birth Flag of the United States Chester, Pennsylvania
Career highlights
Overall 556-163 (.773)
Championships
NCAA Men's Division III Tournament Championship (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999)
Big 10 Tournament Championship (2004, 2008)
Big 10 Regular Season Championship (2002, 2003, 2008)
Awards
Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award (2007)
Big 10 Coach of the Year (2002, 2003)
Playing career
1965–1969 Wilkes
Position Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1976–1984
1984–1999
1999–2001
2001–present
Wisconsin (asst.)
UW-Platteville
UW-Milwaukee
Wisconsin

William "Bo" Ryan (born December 20, 1947 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States) is the current head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison men's basketball team. Ryan is the current leader in overall winning percentage in the entire NCAA among coaches with at least twenty years of head coaching experience (including Divisions II and III).[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Bo Ryan began playing basketball at a very young age. His father, Butch Ryan, coached basketball to under-privileged children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Butch Ryan taught his son all the skills to be a successful point guard, generally the position of the team leader. With the skills Ryan had learned he became a star basketball player, leading the team to a 25-1 record in his senior year. Ryan lettered in football, basketball and baseball, and was President of his class. After high school, Ryan starred as a point guard at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His love for the game drove him to remain involved with the sport, choosing to delve into the coaching profession.

[edit] Coaching career

[edit] Early years

After graduating from Wilkes University, Ryan began graduate work at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. After working at the College of Racine in Wisconsin, Ryan became head coach at Sun Valley High School in Aston, Pennsylvania, where he was named conference coach of the year in 1976. His success at the College of Racine and Sun Valley led to a job as assistant head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under head coaches Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder from 1977-84.

[edit] University of Wisconsin-Platteville

After his stint as an assistant, Ryan accepted the head coaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. From 1984 until 1999 Ryan's Platteville team posted a 352-76 overall record, a winning percentage of 82%. Ryan guided the UW-Platteville Pioneers to four national championships (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999). He also won eight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and set a Division III scoring defense record in 1997 with his team only allowing 47.5 points per game.[citation needed]

On January 27, 2007 the University of Wisconsin-Platteville officially honored Ryan's 15-year tenure by naming their basketball court "Bo Ryan Court".[citation needed] Ryan, along with the 2007 Wisconsin Badger team attended the event.

[edit] University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

On the strength of his success at Platteville, Ryan was hired as head coach at UW-Milwaukee for the 1999-2000 season. In his two seasons as coach, the team had its first back-to-back winning seasons in nearly a decade.[1] Ryan also brought a 1.61% increase in home attendance at UW-Milwaukee, giving the program a new energy that continued into the tenure of his successor Bruce Pearl.

[edit] University of Wisconsin-Madison

Following the Badgers' 2000 Final Four run, head coach Dick Bennett retired two games into the 2000-2001 season. Assistant coach Brad Soderberg finished the season as interim head coach, but was not retained by the University. The coaching search began to concentrate on Rick Majerus of the University of Utah (who was a Milwaukee native) and Bo Ryan. Majerus pulled his name out of consideration, and the decision was made to hire Bo Ryan as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team.

Ryan's first season was much more successful than anticipated. The team was predicted to finish as low as ninth in the Big Ten in pre-season polls. The team, lead by Kirk Penney, surprisingly tied with three other teams for the 2002 Big Ten Championship and received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers once again won the Big Ten championship in the 2002-2003 season and advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" in the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers won the Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2004, led by Devin Harris, and once again received an NCAA Tournament invitation. In the 2004-2005 season, Wisconsin advanced to the "Elite Eight" in the NCAA Tournament, losing to the eventual national champion, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels. On December 10, 2005, Ryan recorded his 100th victory as Wisconsin head coach by defeating in-state rival Marquette.[citation needed]

In the 2006-2007 season, Ryan led the Badgers to the pinnacle of college basketball, helping them achieve their first top-five ranking and #1 ranking in the AP poll in the school's history. However, this would last only a week, as they lost their following two games to Michigan State and Ohio State. The Wisconsin-Ohio State game on February 25, 2007, featured two teams ranked #1 in that week's national polls, with Ohio state securing the top ranking in the Coaches poll. The following week they rebounded with a 52-50 win at home over Michigan State and again defeated Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament, increasing Ryan's record against Tom Izzo to 11-3, before losing the Big Ten Tournament championship game to Ohio State. In 2007, Bo was named the winner of the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award.[citation needed]

[edit] Head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
UW-Platteville (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1984 — 1999)
1984–1985 UW-Platteville 9-17 4-12 7th
1985–1986 UW-Platteville 16-11 8-8 5th NAIA 1st Round
1986–1987 UW-Platteville 14-11 6-10 T-5th
1987–1988 UW-Platteville 24-5 14-2 1st NAIA 3rd Round
1988–1989 UW-Platteville 24-5 13-3 3rd NAIA 3rd Round
1989–1990 UW-Platteville 26-3 15-1 1st NAIA 3rd Round
1990–1991 UW-Platteville 28-3 13-3 2nd NCAA D-III Champions
1991–1992 UW-Platteville 27-4 13-3 2nd NCAA D-III 3rd Place
1992–1993 UW-Platteville 24-4 13-3 T-1st NCAA D-III Elite Eight
1993–1994 UW-Platteville 23-5 13-3 2nd NCAA D-III Sweet 16
1994–1995 UW-Platteville 31-0 16-0 1st NCAA D-III Champions
1995–1996 UW-Platteville 23-3 15-1 1st NCAA D-III 1st Round
1996–1997 UW-Platteville 24-3 14-2 1st NCAA D-III 2nd Round
1997–1998 UW-Platteville 30-0 16-0 1st NCAA D-III Champions
1998–1999 UW-Platteville 30-2 15-1 1st NCAA D-III Champions
UW-Platteville: 353-76 188-52
UW-Milwaukee (Horizon League) (1999 — 2001)
1999–2000 UW-Milwaukee 15-14 6-8 T-4th
2000–2001 UW-Milwaukee 15-13 7-7 5th
UW-Milwaukee: 30-27 13-15
Wisconsin (Big Ten Conference) (2001 — present)
2001–2002 Wisconsin 19-13 11-5 T-1st NCAA 2nd Round
2002–2003 Wisconsin 24-8 12-4 1st NCAA Sweet 16
2003–2004 Wisconsin 25-7 12-4 T-2nd NCAA 2nd Round
2004–2005 Wisconsin 25-9 11-5 3rd NCAA Elite Eight
2005–2006 Wisconsin 19-12 9-7 T-4th NCAA 1st Round
2006–2007 Wisconsin 30-6 13-3 2nd NCAA 2nd Round
2007-2008 Wisconsin 31-5 16-2 1st NCAA Sweet 16
Wisconsin: 173-60 84-30
Total: 556-163

      National Champion         Conference Champion         Conference Tournament Champion


[edit] Trivia

  • At the end of the 2007-08 season Ryan has a .742 winning percentage at Wisconsin. [2]
  • He has a .773 career winning percentage. Among coaches with 500 career wins his percentage ranks second only to Roy Williams.
  • In Big Ten Conference play Ryan has a .737 winning percentage. That ranks first all time among Big Ten coaches with at least five years of experience.

[edit] External links