Wisconsin made things official today by removing the “interim” from Greg Gard‘s position and signing him to a five year contract as the new head men’s basketball coach of the Badgers. Gard took over the program this past December after the abrupt retirement of long time Badgers head coach Bo Ryan.
The Badgers had a slow start to the season, suffering uncharacteristic home losses to the likes of Western Illinois and Milwaukee, and had just a 7-5 record when Ryan stepped aside on December 15. In 19 games under Gard, the Badgers went 13-6 and earned wins against four ranked conference opponents.
The 20-11 (12-6) Badgers enter this week’s Big Ten Tournament as the 6-seed and will face either Nebraska or Rutgers in Indianapolis on Thursday, March 10.
Gard spent twenty three seasons as an assistant to Bo Ryan at Wisconsin, Milwaukee and UW-Platteville. The Cobb, Wisconsin-native holds both bachelor’s (1995) and master’s (2007) degrees from Platteville.
