Bo Ryan: Basketball will remain 'a big part of my life' after retirement
MADISON, Wis. — Bo Ryan hobbled slowly through the Kohl Center concourse Tuesday afternoon, hunched over while leaning on a walker in his right hand.
"I'll be right there," he said, moving ever slower before effortlessly picking up the cane and smiling while greeting a group of media members.
It was a joke as only Ryan could execute it, a sarcastic nod to those who suspected any kind of deteriorating health was the reason for an impending retirement.
Yes, Ryan reiterated, he would enter his 15th and final season as Wisconsin's men's basketball coach in 2015-16. But in his first public comments since he offered a two-paragraph statement Monday announcing his retirement following next season, he made the reasons for his decision quite clear.
This was not about health problems or college basketball rules changes or anything else those outside his inner circle may have concluded. It was about a man who, at age 67, had accomplished about all he could in the college game — someone who was ready to carve out time to experience the next phase of his life while he was healthy enough to enjoy it.
"It just was a culmination," Ryan said. "For all those people that said things about my health and everything else, that's why I brought the cane or the walker. But it isn't just a boom decision."
Ryan, who will turn 68 in December, noted the increased demands on his time — with camps and speaking engagements, particularly since Wisconsin reached consecutive Final Fours the past two seasons — and the ways in which the sport had become a year-round job. Those developments didn't leave much time to pursue other endeavors. He talked about exploring the country to watch games and reminisce with players and coaches. He mentioned the idea of traveling abroad to participate in clinics that he simply couldn't do as the Badgers' head coach.
Certainly, basketball has been ingrained in Ryan's DNA since his days as a child in Chester, Pa., and he wasn't about to give it up entirely.
"I'll still be involved with the game," Ryan said. "You don't grow up the way I did with a dad who took you to every gym within 50 miles until I could start taking myself and be around the game of basketball growing up in the roots in Philly. No. Basketball will always be a big part of my life. You don't necessarily have to be the head coach at an institution to still love the game and be involved with the game, do some clinics for people maybe."
Ryan's successes as Wisconsin coach are unparalleled in program history. He owns the most victories at the school (357), seven Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles and has guided the Badgers to the NCAA tournament in all 14 of his seasons, including national semifinal and national championship appearances the past two years. He also previously won four Division III national championships as head coach at UW-Platteville.
His old-school philosophies about teamwork and discipline have served him well during his coaching tenure, especially during seasons at Wisconsin when the team seemingly overachieved given its talent relative to other programs. And when that talent level rose to new heights the past two seasons, so did the Badgers, compiling a combined record of 66-12, including 9-2 in the NCAA tournament to put the program among the sport's elite.
Through it all, Ryan — like Frank Sinatra's classic hit — has done it his way. That is to say, he maintained his core beliefs about developing players over time, understanding the full college experience meant more than simply basketball. He was cut from a cloth that scarcely exists in this modern era of one-and-done players and graduate transfers, and he had success anyway.
"I've talked to a lot of the older coaches," Ryan said. "You want to know what I'm getting the most of? You did it your way. How many coaches get to do it this way and not be forced out or asked or a little bit of a push from people?"
Ryan's "my way" philosophy included a prod for his longtime assistant, Greg Gard, to be named as his successor at Wisconsin. Gard has coached alongside Ryan since his days at UW-Platteville and has been the Badgers' associate head coach since 2008.
"Greg has hung in there with the idea that he's not afraid of challenges," Ryan said. "That was a big challenge for him to be able to stay as long as he has and have the opportunity to be the next coach. Why not? It happens in every other profession out there."
Gard said Tuesday that he was honored and humbled by Ryan's push for him to be coach but added now was not the time to consider his credentials.
"Everybody knew that yesterday was coming at some point and time," Gard said, reflecting on Ryan's decision. "There was going to be a point and time when he was going to retire and decided to do that. Now it was just a matter of there's a line in the sand. There is a finality to it that made it real. He had always joked about retirement for years. Twenty years ago he joked about it. But I knew that it was going to be a point and time when he felt it was right."
Despite the finality of it all, there is still a task at hand. Ryan and Gard spoke Tuesday before the Badgers participated in their next summer workout. And without five of the team's top seven scorers off last year's national runner-up team, including first-round NBA Draft picks Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, plenty of work remains.
That means Ryan will do it his way at Wisconsin for another season.
"This is not some swan song that I'm going to come in here and coast," Ryan said. "No, no. This group right here, especially after watching the first two workouts, I think they need us. I think they need the coaches and as much experience as they can get. We are not very — I won't use the term good — but we are not a seasoned team by any means. We've got a lot of raw players that are going to be good players. But there's a lot of work to do.
"I just wanted to make sure I had the energy and the wherewithal to not let young people down. They deserve the best, and that's what we plan on giving them."
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