Bo Ryan Retires Effective Immediately, Greg Gard Takes Over

Bo Ryan announced tonight, after the Badgers beat Texas A&M Corpus Christi at the Kohl Center, that he will be stepping down as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, effective immediately. Greg Gard — the assistant who has been Bo Ryan’s choice as successor, not necessarily with the unconditional agreement from Athletic Director Barry Alvarez — will take over in the interim.

As a Wisconsin alum, it’s been a great pleasure watching Bo Ryan coach this team. They outperformed expectations year in and year out, made the last two Final Four’s, defeated undefeated Kentucky, and came an aggravating Grayson Allen onslaught away from enabling Bo to ride out triumphantly on a unicorn.

This year’s Badgers team has been frustrating. Though they had a shocking road victory against Syracuse, there were losses versus Oklahoma, UW Milwaukee, and Marquette. There was the sense, at least with me, that because of the program’s past the team could steadily improve, perhaps get a head of steam around March, and make a little run.

As I wrote when he first announced his retirement at the end of this season, Bo Ryan has my unconditional reverence for the sports fan experience he’s presided over:

There had been some sense up until right now that, with promising freshman Ethan Happ, Bo might defer his retirement year-by-year kind of like Brett Favre did. The timing of the announcement makes me think that Bo wanted to give Greg Gard a chance to prove himself worthy of being successor, an opportunity which he would not have assuredly had if he retired at the end of the year as planned.