Bo Ryan
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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).
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. Future St. Joseph's University and Orlando Magic star Jameer Nelson surpassed most of Ryan's records that had stood for nearly thirty years. 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.
Coaching career
Early years
After graduating from Wilkes University, Ryan began graduate work at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. After a stint as assistant coach 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.
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
After his stint as an assistant, Ryan accepted the head coaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. At Platteville, he became the premiere coach in Division III basketball. 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.
On January 27, 2007 the University of Wisconsin-Platteville officially honored Ryan's 15-year tenure by naming their basketball court "Bo Ryan Court". Ryan, along with the 2007 Wisconsin Badger team attended the event.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
On the strength of his phenomenal success at Platteville, Ryan was hired as head coach at UW-Milwaukee for the 1999-2000 season. UW-Milwaukee had been a desolate Division I basketball program for several years when Ryan arrived, but, 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.
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. 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, 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.
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 | 29-4 | 16-2 | 1st | NCAA 2nd Round
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| Wisconsin: | 171-59 | 84-30 | |||||||
| Total: | 554-162 | ||||||||
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National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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Trivia
- As of the beginning of the 2007-08 season Ryan has a .721 winning percentage at Wisconsin. [2]
- He has a .769 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 .708 winning percentage. That ranks first all time among Big Ten coaches with at least five years of experience.