Bo Ryan
Bo Ryan (born December 20, 1947)
Teams coached: Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers, Milwaukee Panthers, Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin-Platteville record^: 353-76 (.823)
Milwaukee record: 30-27 (.526)
Wisconsin record: 364-130 (.737)
Overall record^: 747-233 (.762)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 2015)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 14 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 7 (2003, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 2 (2014, 2015)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Big Ten Regular Season Champion: 4 (2002, 2003, 2008, 2015)
- WIAC (Div III) Regular Season Champion: 6 (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
- WIAC (NAIA) Regular Season Champion: 2 (1988, 1990)
- Big Ten Tournament Champion: 3 (2004, 2008, 2015)
- NCAA Division III National Championships: 4 (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999)
- NCAA Division III Tournament Appearances: 9 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
- NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four: 5 (1991, 1992, 1995, 1998, 1999)
- NAIA Tournament Appearances: 4 (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990)
Awards:
- Jim Phelan Award: 1 (2008)
- Clair Bee Coach of the Year: 1 (2007)
- Big Ten Coach of the Year: 4 (2002, 2003, 2013, 2015)
- NABC Div III Coach of the Year: 4 (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999)
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2024)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2017)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
2001-2015 | Wisconsin |
1999-2001 | Milwaukee |
1984-1999 | Wisconsin-Platteville |
1976-1984 | Wisconsin (asst) |
Bo Ryan Facts
- William Francis Ryan, Jr.
- Born December 20, 1947
- Hometown: Chester, Pennsylvania
- Alma Mater: Wilkes College (BS, 1969)
- Lettered in baseball, basketball and football in high school before going on to Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre, PA
- After graduating, Ryan served as the head baseball coach at Dominican College of Racine (WI)
- First basketball coaching position was Brookhaven JHS (PA) in 1972, followed by a stint at Sun Valley HS (PA) from 1974-76
- Joined the college ranks as an assistant at Wisconsin, working under Bill Cofield (1976-82) and Steve Yoder (1982-84)
- Left Madison in 1984 to become the head coach at NAIA (later Division-III) Wisconsin-Platteville
- Compiled a record of 353-76 (.823) in 15 seasons at Platteville
- Won four Division-III National Championships, reaching the postseason 13 times in total
- With Ryan at the helm, Wisconsin-Platteville was the winningest NCAA program (any Division) during the 1990s
- Moved back up to the Division I level in 1999, spending two years as the head coach at UW Milwaukee
- Returned to Madison in 2001, where we would spend the next 13+ seasons as head coach of the Badgers
- Never finished lower than 4th in the Big Ten and made the NCAA Tournament in each of the 13 full seasons for which he was head coach
- Those thirteen NCAA Tournament appearances were part of a larger streak of nineteen straight for the program (1999-2017)
- Won four Big Ten Regular Season titles and three Big Ten Tournament crowns as head coach
- Coached Wisconsin to the first (and only) four 30-win seasons in program history
- Made the NCAA Final Four in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015, finishing as runner-up to Duke in 2015 in what would be his final NCAA Tournament game as a head coach
- Retired mid-season on Dec 15, 2015, having won 364 (74%) of his games as the Badgers’ head coach
- Never finished lower than 4th in the Big Ten and made the NCAA Tournament in each of the 13 full seasons for which he was head coach
- Along with his wife, Kelly, has three daughters, two sons and six grandchildren; one son, Will, is also a basketball coach
Bo Ryan Coaching Tree
- Tony Bennett (Virginia, Washington State)
- Greg Gard (Wisconsin)
- Rob Jeter (Western Illinois, Milwaukee)
- Howard Moore (UIC)
- Krayton Nash (Cardinal Stritch)
- Freddie Owens (Green Bay)
- Lamont Paris (South Carolina, Chattanooga)
- Saul Phillips (Ohio, North Dakota State)
- Will Ryan (Green Bay, Wheeling)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I, Division III and NAIA levels; UW-Platteville was an NAIA program until 1990, when it moved up to NCAA Division III