bo ryan retires effective immediately
- Thread starter NYShoreGuy
- Start date
From afar two things immediately come to mind.
1. Leaving team playing poorly. Would he have done this if say Wisconsin was 11-1 instead of 7-5?
2. Forces Wisconsin to hire his lead assistant and life long coaching companion Greg Gard as a replacement this year. A tact that coaches having been doing as far back as our own Bill Raftery who retired in early November 1981 opening the door for his good friend Hoddy Mahon to take over the coaching reigns.
1. Leaving team playing poorly. Would he have done this if say Wisconsin was 11-1 instead of 7-5?
2. Forces Wisconsin to hire his lead assistant and life long coaching companion Greg Gard as a replacement this year. A tact that coaches having been doing as far back as our own Bill Raftery who retired in early November 1981 opening the door for his good friend Hoddy Mahon to take over the coaching reigns.
He announced he was retiring earlier. This is actually a much better time to retire than at the end of the season for the purposes of recruiting and program development.
That reeks of forcing the AD to hire Gard (now) who might not be Barry Alverez' first choice to replace Ryan.
With a coach like Tony Bennett or another high profile coach with a ton of experience potentially a candidate to take over, the development would not have suffered. Instead, the assistant that Ryan wanted to take over, Greg Gard, will coach now. He has no head coaching experience and Barry Alvarez did not see eye-to-eye with Ryan's comments over the summer that Gard would be the next coach. The team is not good and I'm not sure how setting Gard up for failure is going to help him get the job.
I doubt Alvarez is that much of a pushover. Gard is going to have a rough time the rest of this season, so he is unlikely to have a Steve Fisher-like groundswell of support.
Losing to two Wisconsin teams (with UW Green Bay on deck) and Western Illinois, having a weak team in a very good Big Ten this season, and trying to pull a power move on your AD will hurt recruiting and program development a lot more than retiring at the end of the season.
I repeat. Alvarez will make his own decision. He's got real power and had nearly as much success as a coach as did Ryan.
Agreed and the way I see it is that Ryan didn't think Gard was going to get the job at season's end so at least this way he's given his friend a fighting chance.
So how is retiring on Dec. 15th when Ryan said he would retire at the end of the season better than actually retiring at the end of the season? How does that help the program? It doesn't stabilize the program at all, especially if Alvarez goes with a coach other than Gard.
Wisconsin basketball will be fine. Stop looking at this through the lenses of SHU or, even worse, RU. Ryan was being wishy washy as late as August about whether he would actually retire at the end of the season. Alvarez can have his ducks in a row come March to start interviewing candidates.
Horace"Hoddy Mahon" led that squad to a 7-1 start including a win over final four team Houston.Houston's roster included Akeem the dream and Clyde the glide. Hoddy held his own coaching against Joe B Hall, Guy Lewis,John Thompson,Digger Phelps,Pete Carill that season.
He is a crotchety guy and maybe he just had enough. Did I hear that he had 14 bids in his 14 years at Wisc? If so, he would have my forgiveness and everlasting thankfulness.
As far as Wisc hoops will be fine, I don't think that is a given. Were they ever a perennial power before Bob took over? Look at Escherick at GU, Blaney at SH. A bad hire can tear it down quickly.
As far as Wisc hoops will be fine, I don't think that is a given. Were they ever a perennial power before Bob took over? Look at Escherick at GU, Blaney at SH. A bad hire can tear it down quickly.
Academic DQs at the end of the first semester and his pushing too hard for getting a contract for the following season did him in. He also coached pretty well in a loss against Tark the Shark at MSG.
Yes he did, until he lost 3 starters the second semester to grades.
That opened the door for
Dan Dunne's career game, off the bench no less, against the Dream and the first game ever played at the Pru. What could have been? Danny C could only carry that team just so far by himself.
Dick Bennett got the ball rolling there. He made it to the FF in 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Bennett
Since I don't watch anything on ESPN other than the games with the occasional pre/post-game & halftime report, it's fascinating to see someone on their platform actually take a hard stance on something re: college bball.
The guys who do the games are some of the most milquetoast people on TV. No balls.
Only time they get adamant about something is when they are crapping on the NCAA for punishing one of their beloved cheater coaches. Or even better, when their arguments about which teams are the best each season end up boiling down to which guy on the panel is in love with Coach K, Izzo or Calipari more.
Sickening.
Dude is like 1000 years old and did great things for Wisconsin. Probably would have retired if he won it all last year, stayed in it for a bit this year until he realized kickin back in a hammock wearing tommy bahama crushing pina coladas sounds waaaayyyyy better.
If they were winning more games he would have saw this through the end of the season. He quit on his team.
Regardless of the rest of his career, he quit on his team.
I thought it was BS what Spurrier did and it's BS what Bo is doing.
Regardless of the rest of his career, he quit on his team.
I thought it was BS what Spurrier did and it's BS what Bo is doing.
I have to say what Bo Ryan accomplished at Wisconsin is pretty amazing. What I think is more amazing is his loyalty to his guy that he believed deserves the shot at coaching the team. In my opinion, Bo Ryan is a stand up guy who does what he believes.
I don't think anyone can criticize this man. He has done wonders for that program and deserves all the respect possible. He is giving his guy a shot at coaching the season. Probably a shot that he would not have received if he had retired at the end of the Championship game. Kudos for Ryan for doing what he believed is right.
And congratulations for always being a class act. Good luck in retirement.
I don't think anyone can criticize this man. He has done wonders for that program and deserves all the respect possible. He is giving his guy a shot at coaching the season. Probably a shot that he would not have received if he had retired at the end of the Championship game. Kudos for Ryan for doing what he believed is right.
And congratulations for always being a class act. Good luck in retirement.
mike greenberg has a pretty liberal voice; jay bilas has the platform to say things beyond the the rah rah stuff
Well said.
To steal the phrase used by another poster, these coaches act like horse's asses and never feel any bit of criticism from those who cover the sport. Nauseating.
In the occasional instance they do get called on the carpet they act like even bigger jerks in their responses.
The media genuflects and does nothing but blame the school, the kids, or the NCAA in an instance of wrongdoing. I hate it. I think Mike Greenberg is a turd, but good job by him here.
on impulse bo wanted to be done end of april, barry told him to hold off and not act on impulse, the lead assistant was dealing with his father's cancer prognosis in may, june, july or i believe bo would have retired thus leaving the lead assistant to get one full season for barry to evaluate; so they determined semester break would be a good transition point
wisc has had some neat names for short periods of time, stu jackson, stan van gundy; great program right there with mich st, ohio state last decade plus in terms of being year to year competitive
wisc has had some neat names for short periods of time, stu jackson, stan van gundy; great program right there with mich st, ohio state last decade plus in terms of being year to year competitive
Bennett's father and to a lesser extent Stu Jackson put them on the map, so they were relevant prior to Bo.
Alvarez is not going to eff up this hire.
I criticized Sina for quitting on his team midseason. Same holds here. Loved him as a coach, but he was a piss-poor loser last year and the way he handled the Jarrod Uthoff transfer sucked, too.
Hakeem was a frosh and came off the bench. If I recall, Micheal Young was a starter and they had a kid named Benny Anders who I thought was a can't miss star.
Gard is only 44 years old and has been coaching with Ryan for 23 years. My God. Give him a medal, LOL.
Bo Ryan wanted to retire during the summer. When they start talking retirement, well, you saw what happened. So he comes back, realizes he's knee deep in a rebuild and realizes it's just not worth it any more. He sets up his guy to have a shot to run a team for a conference season. Doesn't seem that complicated. Bo knows Bo and that's why he wins. He had one helluva career.
Alvarez will peace Gard at the end of the year, but at least he got his shot.
Bo Ryan wanted to retire during the summer. When they start talking retirement, well, you saw what happened. So he comes back, realizes he's knee deep in a rebuild and realizes it's just not worth it any more. He sets up his guy to have a shot to run a team for a conference season. Doesn't seem that complicated. Bo knows Bo and that's why he wins. He had one helluva career.
Alvarez will peace Gard at the end of the year, but at least he got his shot.
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Bo tried to force Alvarez's hand and nobody forces Alvarez to do anything. Gard has his chance. How lucky for him
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