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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:

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
  • 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

 

^ 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