As Bo Ryan enters his 28th season as a head coach in 2011-12 - his 11th atop the Wisconsin program - it's difficult to decide which is more impressive, his incredible longevity or his unparalleled success. It is, however, safe to say that the combination of the two is what elevates Ryan among college basketball's elite.
With a win over Wofford in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, Ryan became the 56th coach in NCAA history to reach the 600-win plateau and one of just nine active Division I coaches to reach that hallowed ground. Ryan's career winning percentage of .763 is second only to North Carolina's Roy Williams among active coaches with 500 wins.
Already a member of the Wilkes College Athletic Hall of Fame (2003) and the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (2008), Ryan will be enshrined into two additional prestigious circles in 2011. A native of Chester, Pa., Ryan will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this fall. His 34 years of excellence in the state of Wisconsin will also be recognized in October of 2011 as he will rightly take his place in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Hall of Fame.
WINNING AT WISCONSIN Entering his 11th season as head coach at Wisconsin, Ryan has unquestionably established himself and the program among the most prestigious in college basketball.
Presiding over what is arguably the most successful 10-year stretch in UW history, Ryan's teams own: • A .727 win pct. (242-91) overall • A .714 win pct. (120-48) in Big Ten play • A .933 win pct. (152-11) at home • 5 Big Ten titles • The 7 winningest seasons in UW history • 5 players with AP All-America recognition • 10 NCAA tournament, 3 Sweet 16s, 1 Elite Eight
With 242 victories at Wisconsin, Ryan ranks third on the school's all-time wins list, and is poised to take over the throne in 2012, surpassing basketball hall of famers Walter Meanwell (246) and Bud Foster (265).
Prior to Ryan's arrival in Madison, Wisconsin had never won more than 22 games in a season. Ryan's teams have averaged 24.2 wins in his 10 seasons.
BIG TEN'S BEST Wisconsin's success in Big Ten play under Ryan is unmatched. His .714 (120-48) winning percentage in conference games is the best of any Big Ten coach in history, surpassing Thad Matta (.708, 85-35) and Bob Knight (.700, 353-151) on the career ledger.
In 2010, Ryan earned his 100th Big Ten win, tying legendary Indiana coach Branch McCracken as the second-fastest coach in conference history to record 100 Big Ten wins, doing so in 140 games. Only Knight did it faster (131 games).
In 2002, Ryan's first season, Wisconsin earned a share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 1947. The next year, UW won the title outright, securing back-to-back championships for the first time since 1923 and 1924. Not to be outdone, Ryan led the Badgers to their first Big Ten tournament title in 2004. In 2008, Ryan and UW doubled up, winning the regular-season and tournament crowns in the same season for the first time in school history.
He is the first coach in conference history to lead a team to at least 11 Big Ten wins in each of his first four seasons. Prior to his arrival in 2001, UW had reached double digit conference wins just 11 times, and only three times since 1941. The Badgers have at least 10 conference wins in nine of Ryan's 10 seasons, including a school-record 16 in 2008.
With Ryan at the helm, the Badgers have posted an above .500 conference record in every season and have never finished outside the top four in the Big Ten standings.
Ryan's Honors
Coach of the Year
2002 Big Ten Conference
2003 Big Ten Conference
2003 NABC District 11
2004 Guardian of the Game
2007 Clair Bee National
2007 Adolph Rupp Cup National
2008 Jim Phelan National
2008 NABC District 11
4-time NABC Div. III National Coach of the Year
6-time WIAC Coach of the Year
Players in the NBA
Brian Butch - Denver Nuggets
Devin Harris - Dallas Mavericks/N.J. Nets/Utah Jazz
POSTSEASON PROMINENCE The Badgers have appeared in the NCAA tournament in each of Ryan's 10 seasons, advancing to four Sweet 16s and the Elite Eight in 2005. Ryan's 14 NCAA tournament wins are a school record, and he is the first coach in UW history to lead a team to multiple Sweet 16 appearances.
Last season, Ryan guided the Badgers to the school's 13th-straight NCAA tournament appearance and its fifth Sweet 16 in the last 12 years. Wisconsin's 25 wins a year ago tied as the third-highest single-season total in school annals and UW reached 13 conference wins for just the fourth time in history.
HOME DOMINANCE In Ryan's 10 seasons, the Kohl Center has become one of the toughest places to play in America. The Badgers have compiled a 152-11 (.933) home record under Ryan, including a 78-6 (.929) mark in Big Ten games.
Over the last 10 seasons, UW's .933 win percentage ranks as the fourth-best overall home record in the country. Wisconsin enters the 2011-12 season having won 19 consecutive home games, a streak that ranks fifth in UW history. Ryan's teams also set the school record with 38 straight home wins from Dec. 7, 2002 to Jan. 24, 2005.
REPRESENTING TEAM USA Ryan was selected to serve as the head coach for Team USA during the 2009 World University Games in Serbia. Appointed by the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Ryan led some of college basketball's top players into international play in July of 2009. The team brought home the bronze medal after posting a 6-1 record. Ryan's Team USA defeated gold medal-winning Serbia in the second round, but a one-point loss to Russia in the semifinals forced the U.S. into a third-place finish.
Held in high esteem by colleagues, Ryan has previously won two gold medals as an assistant coach, first with Virginia head coach Pete Gillen and the gold medal-winning North squad at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival, and also with former Atlanta Hawks coach Lon Kruger and the United States' gold medal winner at the 1995 World University Games.
RYAN PRODUCES PROS Individual success has followed team success as a number of Ryan's players have earned notable honors and gone onto successful professional basketball careers.
Under Ryan's watch, five players have earned AP All-America recognition - Kirk Penney (HM in 2003), Devin Harris (2nd in 2004), Alando Tucker (1st in 2007), Jon Leuer (HM in 2011) and Jordan Taylor (2nd in 2011).
UW has also had a first-team All-Big Ten pick in eight of Ryan's 10 seasons (Penney - 2002-03, Harris - 2004, Mike Wilkinson - 2005, Tucker - 2006-07, Brian Butch - 2008, Leuer and Taylor - 2011).
Harris, the fifth pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, was also named the 2004 Big Ten Player of the Year and was a consensus second-team All-American. He was a finalist for national player of the year and finished second for the Bob Cousy Award. In 2009, Harris was selected for his first NBA All-Star Game after leading the New Jersey Nets with 21.3 points and 6.9 assists per game.
In 2006-07, Tucker became just the third consensus first-team All-American in school history, winning the Big Ten Player of the Year and Senior CLASS awards and joining Kevin Durant of Texas as finalists for every major national player of the year award. Tucker was a first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Last season, Taylor and Leuer became the first duo in UW history to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors in the same season. It was also the first time two Badgers earned All-America mention in the same season. Leuer would go on to be a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2011 NBA Draft.
During his tenure in Madison, Ryan has coached seven players that have reached the NBA and numerous others who have played professionally overseas or in the NBA Development League.
COACH OF THE YEAR Bo Ryan and the words Coach of the Year go together like a pick-and-roll. After winning back-to-back Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in his first two seasons at Wisconsin, Ryan burst onto the national coaching landscape when he received the 2007 Clair Bee National Coach of the Year Award, which honors the men's Division I basketball coach who has made the most significant positive contributions to his sport during the preceding year. Ryan also received the Adolph Rupp Cup as the national coach of the year from the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky. He was also a finalist for a number of other national Coach of the Year awards, including the Naismith Award.
He followed that up by being mentioned as a finalist for a number of national Coach of the Year awards in 2007-08. He was named the Jim Phelan Coach of the Year by collegeinsider.com and was the runner-up to Drake's Keno Davis for AP Coach of the Year. Ryan was also named a finalist for the Phelan Award in 2009-10.
BACK-TO-BACK 30-WIN SEASONS During the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, Ryan's Badgers put together a remarkable two-year run. Wisconsin became a fixture in the top 10 and was one of just five teams in the country to win at least 30 games in each of those two seasons. UW's 61-11 (.847) record over that span trailed only Memphis, Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA.
The 2007-08 Badgers embarked on a record-setting season, establishing school marks for both wins (31) and conference wins (16). UW won its third Big Ten regular-season title in seven years and added the Big Ten tournament crown, winning both championships in the same season for the first time. A No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, Wisconsin advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in six years.
The 2007-08 success was built on the tremendous season Wisconsin enjoyed in 2006-07. The Badgers posted a then-school-record 30 wins and also spent 17 weeks ranked in the top 10. On Feb. 19, 2007, the program achieved its first-ever No. 1 ranking. The Badgers' 13 Big Ten wins were then the most in school history and earned them a second-place finish in the conference. Wisconsin was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the best seed in school history.
RYAN'S EARLY YEARS AT UW In his first season at the reins of the Badgers program, 2001-02, Ryan led an undermanned UW team to an improbable share of its first Big Ten championship in 55 years. Ryan had to juggle a lineup consisting of only eight scholarship players, including five players that had seen limited or no action on the collegiate level. The team would win 15 of its final 20 regular-season games en route to a share of the Big Ten title.
In just his second season in Madison, Ryan's Badgers set a school record with 24 wins and earned an outright Big Ten title and a trip to the NCAA tournament Sweet 16. The outright conference championship was UW's first since 1947, and the 12 league wins tied a school record set in 1912 and matched in 1914. Ryan earned his second Big Ten Coach of the Year award, becoming the first coach in league history to be so honored in each of his first two seasons.
In 2003-04, Ryan led Wisconsin to a 25-7 mark, setting a school record for wins in a season and posting the school's highest winning percentage since the 1941 team won the NCAA title with a 20-3 mark. UW went on to win the Big Ten tournament for the first time in school history.
In 2004-05, Ryan was named one of 20 finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award. Despite returning just one starter from the previous year's team, he led the Badgers to an appearance in the Elite Eight and a school record-tying 25 wins.
RYAN'S "STUDENT"-ATHLETES Dating back to his days as a high school teacher, Ryan has always valued the importance of academic success. During his 10 years at Wisconsin, the Badger men's basketball team has routinely posted a cumulative grade point average between 2.9 and 3.1, including a high of 3.04 in the fall of 2008.
On his watch, UW has boasted 37 Academic All-Big Ten honors, a figure that ranks second in the Big Ten (Purdue 39).
GUARDIAN OF THE GAME Ryan has experience as a Division I head and assistant coach, as well as a Division III head coach and is well-respected throughout the college basketball world. At the 2004 Final Four, he was honored with the NABC Guardians of the Game Award for Service. The goal of the Guardians of the Game program is to focus attention on the positive aspects of basketball and the role coaches play in the lives of student-athletes, in addition to the contributions coaches make to their communities.
In 2009, the NABC presented Ryan with the Outstanding Service Award "for his actions inside and outside the lines of coaching that have distinguished him as a valuable members of his community." Ryan is one of college basketball's most active participants when it comes to improving the game. In the past Ryan has served on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee and on the Academic Progress Rate committee. Ryan currently serves on the board of directors for both the NABC and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
RYAN'S TWO SEASONS AT UW-MILWAUKEE Ryan came to Wisconsin from UW-Milwaukee, where he spent two seasons coaching the Panthers to their first back-to-back winning seasons in eight years. UWM, 8-19 overall the year before Ryan arrived, went 15-14 and 15-13 in Ryan's two years at the controls. The program also experienced a 161-percent home attendance increase in his first season.
FOUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AT UW-PLATTEVILLE It was during his 15-year tenure at UW-Platteville (1984-99) that Ryan firmly established himself as one of the country's top coaches. He guided the Division III school to a phenomenal 353-76 (.822) overall record and, in his final 12 seasons, the Pioneers: • Won four national championships (1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999) • Compiled a 314-37 (.895) record • Won eight WIAC titles • Were the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 1990s (all divisions) with a 266-26 (.908) record • Compiled a 30-5 NCAA Division III tournament mark • Never won fewer than 23 games • Compiled a 157-7 (.957) home record • Set the all-time single-season Division III scoring defense mark (47.5 ppg) in 1996-97
UW-PLATTEVILLE'S `BO RYAN COURT' On Jan. 27, 2007, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville honored Ryan by naming the Williams Fieldhouse basketball court "Bo Ryan Court."
Ryan was named the NABC Division III Coach of the Year four times and was tabbed the WIAC Coach of the Year on six occasions while at Platteville.
Ryan took over at UW-Platteville following eight seasons (1976-84) as an assistant coach to Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder at Wisconsin.
RYAN'S COACHING CAREER BEGINS Ryan's coaching career began in the fall of 1972 at Brookhaven High School in Delaware County, Pa., where he was hired as a history teacher and head basketball coach.
After just one year at Brookhaven, Ryan began his collegiate coaching career in 1973 at Dominican College of Racine (Wis.). Serving as an assistant under Bill Cofield, the Dominican basketball team went 14-15 that year. That same season, Ryan would earn the first of many Coach of the Year honors in his career - this one coming as head coach of the Dominican baseball team.
In 1974, Ryan moved back to the Philadelphia area to serve as the head basketball coach at Sun Valley High School. He was promptly named Delaware County Coach of the Year in his first season after directing his team to a second-place finish in the Philadelphia Suburban League. His 1975-76 club was the first Sun Valley High team to qualify for the state tournament.
Ryan would move back to the collegiate coaching ranks for good in March of 1976 when Cofield again hired him as as assistant, this time at Wisconsin. Ryan spent eight seasons (1976-84) working under Cofield and Steve Yoder before taking over at UW-Platteville in the spring of 1984.
BO RYAN COACHING TREE Since Bo Ryan took over at Wisconsin in 2001, four of his former assistant coaches have gone on to take over Division I head coaching positions: Tony Bennett (Washington State and Virginia), Rob Jeter (Milwaukee), Saul Phillips (North Dakota State) and Howard Moore (Illinois-Chicago).
Ryan has also had three former Badger players move on to assistant coaching positions, including Freddie Owens (Montana), Sharif Chambliss (Wisconsin video) and Tanner Bronson (St. Louis).
PERSONAL FILE Ryan was born in December of 1947, just outside of Philadelphia in Chester, Pa. At Chester High School, he was a football teammate of longtime NFL coach Ted Cottrell. He attended Wilkes (Pa.) University, where he starred as a high-scoring guard and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1969. Ryan was inducted into the Wilkes Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
Ryan authored his fourth book in 2008, an autobiography titled: Another Hill to Climb. He has also written three books on coaching basketball: Passing and Catching: A Lost Art; How to Run the Swing Offense; and Applying and Attacking Pressure. He has produced five basketball instructional videos as well.
Ryan and his wife, Kelly, have five children: Megan, Will, Matt, Brenna and Mairin. Ryan also has four grandchildren.
IN GOOD COMPANY Bo Ryan has led Wisconsin to success not seen in Madison for a long time, specifically the time of Walter "Doc" Meanwell. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Meanwell coached the Badgers for 20 seasons in the early part of the 20th century (1912-17, '21-34). His teams won eight Big Ten titles and lost just one game during his first three seasons. Many of the Badgers' accomplishments under Ryan have not been matched since the days of Meanwell. Such as: • The Badgers' back-to-back Big Ten titles (2002-03) were the first since 1923-24. • Ryan reached 100 and 200 career victories at Wisconsin faster than anyone in school history besides Meanwell. It took Ryan 138 games to reach 100 wins (Meanwell 111 games) and 275 games to reach 200 wins (Meanwell 261 games). • UW has gone undefeated at home three times under Ryan (2004, '07, '11), the first since the 1929-30 team went 12-0.
Ryan's Badgers have also accomplished a couple things Meanwell's teams did not. • The 2002-05 Badgers were the first to win at least 11 conference games four seasons in a row. • Wisconsin's 120 Big Ten victories over the past 10 seasons are the most in school history, surpassing the 1909-18 total by 30. • The 2006-07 Badgers' 21-1 start surpassed Meanwell's 1915-16 team (20-1) for the best start in school history.
Stats
Ryan's Coaching record Year University Record Pct. Conference Record Place Postseason 1984-85 UW-Platteville 9-17 .346 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 4-12 7th 1985-86 UW-Platteville 16-11 .593 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 8-8 5th NAIA First Round 1986-87 UW-Platteville 14-11 .560 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 6-10 T5th 1987-88 UW-Platteville 24-5 .828 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 14-2 1st NAIA Third Round 1988-89 UW-Platteville 24-5 .828 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 13-3 3rd NAIA Third Round 1989-90 UW-Platteville 26-3 .897 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 15-1 1st NAIA Third Round 1990-91 UW-Platteville 28-3 .903 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 13-3 2nd NCAA Champion 1991-92 UW-Platteville 27-4 .871 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 13-3 2nd NCAA Third place 1992-93 UW-Platteville 24-4 .857 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 13-3 T1st NCAA Quarterfinals 1993-94 UW-Platteville 23-5 .821 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 13-3 2nd NCAA Sweet 16 1994-95 UW-Platteville 31-0 1.000 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 16-0 1st NCAA Champion 1995-96 UW-Platteville 23-3 .885 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 15-1 1st NCAA First Round 1996-97 UW-Platteville 24-3 .888 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 14-2 1st NCAA Second Round 1997-98 UW-Platteville 30-0 1.000 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 16-0 1st NCAA Champion 1998-99 UW-Platteville 30-2 .938 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic 15-1 1st NCAA Champion 1999-00 UW-Milwaukee 15-14 .517 Midwestern Collegiate 6-8 T4th 2000-01 UW-Milwaukee 15-13 .536 Midwestern Collegiate 7-7 5th 2001-02 Wisconsin 19-13 .594 Big Ten 11-5 T1st NCAA Second Round 2002-03 Wisconsin 24-8 .750 Big Ten 12-4 1st NCAA Sweet 16 2003-04 Wisconsin 25-7 .781 Big Ten 12-4 T2nd NCAA Second Round 2004-05 Wisconsin 25-9 .735 Big Ten 11-5 3rd NCAA Elite Eight 2005-06 Wisconsin 19-12 .613 Big Ten 9-7 T4th NCAA First Round 2006-07 Wisconsin 30-6 .833 Big Ten 13-3 2nd NCAA Second Round 2007-08 Wisconsin 31-5 .861 Big Ten 16-2 1st NCAA Sweet 16 2008-09 Wisconsin 20-13 .606 Big Ten 10-8 T4th NCAA Second Round 2009-10 Wisconsin 24-9 .727 Big Ten 13-5 4th NCAA Second Round 2010-11 Wisconsin 25-9 .735 Big Ten 13-5 3rd NCAA Sweet 16 27-year career record 625-194 .763 10-year UW record 242-91 .727 Big Ten 120-48 .714
