Wisconsin's Bo Ryan Announces Future Retirement Plans

Wisconsin Badgers' head coach Bo Ryan has never seemed to be able to relax on the basketball court, so relaxing in retirement may be his toughest challenge. After all, coaching basketball seemed to come easy to the man, Ryan's last and only losing season as a head coach came in his first year at Division III UW-Platteville. Bo would go on to lead the Pioneers to four national championships during his fifteen years at the school. In 1999, Ryan got his shot at D-I with the UW-Milwaukee Panthers and by 2001 he was headed to the big campus in Madison.

In a press release earlier today, the fiery and passionate leader of Wisconsin basketball announced that he would be retiring after this upcoming season. In the statement, Ryan said that he discussed his decision with Athletic Director Barry Alvarez not long after the Final Four and considered retiring right away. However, he decided to stay one last year and will coach a young, but talented team led by juniors Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig. Bo also expressed his hope that he will be succeeded by longtime assistant Greg Gard, who has been with the coach since his days in Platteville.

During his tenure at Wisconsin, Ryan has won 4 Big Ten regular season championships, 3 Big Ten Tournament titles and never missed an NCAA Tournament. This coming season may present a difficult challenge to this legendary stat, but Bo has never finished outside of the top four in the Big Ten regular season. Ryan's teams are always fundamentally sound and never beat themselves. Bo is the poster child for consistency on the bench, and will always be known for his demonstrative demeanor on the sideline. Ryan reached his second Final Four in a row this year and came within a half of a Division I championship and produced two top 20 NBA Draft picks in Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. Many thought that this past season was the pinnacle of the Bo Ryan era, but few thought that that era would end so quickly. We wish Bo well in retirement and I can guarantee he will get quite the reception (maybe not always a positive one) at every stop on his farewell tour.