Ryan announces retirement, Gard to get his chance (AUDIO)

What University of Wisconsin men’s basketball fans dreaded for months became reality Tuesday night when Bo Ryan officially announced his retirement, effective immediately.

And after Wisconsin beat Maryland on November 29, Dick Bennett – who’d been coaching for 16 seasons, nearly the same amount of time as Ryan now – announced his own retirement. Gard has worked for Ryan for 20 seasons.

Ryan had toyed with the idea of retiring before the season began, but wouldn’t make the move unless his assistant coach Greg Gard was named the new head coach.

Ryan, who turns 68 years old next week, is the winningest coach in Wisconsin basketball history with 364 victories.

Ryan leaves behind an incredible legacy, not the least of which are his four Big Ten Coach of the Year awards, four regular season Big Ten titles and three conference tournament championships.

Late at night after losing in the NCAA tournament championship game to Duke in Indianapolis last season, Bo Ryan was asked what it meant to have a successful season come to a close.

“I’ll see you down the road”, Ryan said. Oh, and his dad and brother are alums of the school that he left, and his only tie to UVA is that his BYU team played a home-and-home with the Cavs in 2013 and 2014.

“I am very critical of Bo Ryan, but for selfish reasons, because I want what we’ve enjoyed for the last 15 years to continue”, one caller told Heller and his co-host Jon Arias. His accolades will be acknowledged through the coming weeks and months as the Badgers look to regroup, but it’s the personality and the way he coached that made him so great. He’s been yelling and screaming for a long time. Gard will assume the position in what was his 23rd as Ryan’s assistant, which included stints at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin-Platteville. Early-season losses and perhaps a feeling of not getting through to this team could have also taken their toll.

“There wasn’t water on the floor but I thought the guy could probably walk on water at the time”, Gard said.

“Following the surgery, I pushed myself incredibly hard to be ready for the season opener”, he said. Ryan’s retirement came at a bit of a curious time considering it is the middle of the season but it seems he might have had great intentions for calling it quits now, according to ESPN. “And I don’t know how many coaches ever have the opportunity to have an AD and an administration that understand and respects that”. “This way we get to finish out the last game of the semester”.

The No. 6 Terps play in Madison on January 9. The soft record was expected with the departure of so much of Wisconsin’s talent base, which included Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native was averaging 9.6 points and 7.7 rebounds this season, but he recently fell out of the starting lineup and his playing minutes were declining under first-year Coach Eric Musselman.