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Bo Ryan

William "Bo" Francis Ryan, Jr. (born December 20, 1947 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States) is the current head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison men's basketball team. Ryan is the current leader in overall winning percentage in the entire NCAA among coaches with at least twenty years of head coaching experience (including Divisions II and III).

Playing career

Bo Ryan began playing basketball at a very young age. His father, Butch Ryan, coached basketball to under-privileged children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Butch Ryan taught his son all the skills to be a successful point guard, generally the position of the team leader. With the skills Ryan had learned he became a star basketball player, leading the team to a 25-1 record in his senior year. Ryan lettered in football, basketball and baseball, and was President of his class. After high school, Ryan starred as a point guard at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His love for the game drove him to remain involved with the sport, choosing to delve into the coaching profession.

Coaching career

Early years

After graduating from Wilkes University, Ryan began graduate work at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. After working at the College of Racine in Wisconsin, Ryan became head coach at Sun Valley High School in Aston, Pennsylvania, where he was named conference coach of the year in 1976. His success at the College of Racine and Sun Valley led to a job as assistant head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under head coaches Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder from 1977–84.

University of Wisconsin-Platteville

After his stint as an assistant, Ryan accepted the head coaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. From 1984 until 1999 Ryan's Platteville team posted a 352–76 overall record, a winning percentage of 82%. Ryan guided the UW-Platteville Pioneers to four national championships (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999). He also won eight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and set a Division III scoring defense record in 1997 with his team only allowing 47.5 points per game.

On January 27, 2007 the University of Wisconsin-Platteville officially honored Ryan's 15-year tenure by naming their basketball court "Bo Ryan Court". Ryan, along with the 2007 Wisconsin Badger team attended the event.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

On the strength of his success at Platteville, Ryan was hired as head coach at Milwaukee for the 1999-2000 season. In his two seasons as coach, the team had its first back-to-back winning seasons in nearly a decade. Ryan also brought a 161% increase in home attendance at Milwaukee, giving the program a new energy that continued into the tenure of his successor Bruce Pearl.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Following the Badgers' 2000 Final Four run, head coach Dick Bennett retired two games into the 2000-2001 season. Assistant coach Brad Soderberg finished the season as interim head coach, but was not retained by the University. The coaching search began to concentrate on Rick Majerus of the University of Utah (who was a Milwaukee native) and Bo Ryan. Majerus pulled his name out of consideration, and the decision was made to hire Bo Ryan as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team.

Ryan's first season was much more successful than anticipated. The team was predicted to finish as low as ninth in the Big Ten in pre-season polls. The team, lead by Kirk Penney, surprisingly tied with three other teams for the 2002 Big Ten Championship and received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers once again won the Big Ten championship in the 2002-2003 season and advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" in the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers won the Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2004, led by Devin Harris, and once again received an NCAA Tournament invitation. In the 2004-2005 season, Wisconsin advanced to the "Elite Eight" in the NCAA Tournament, losing to the eventual national champion, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels. On December 10, 2005, Ryan recorded his 100th victory as Wisconsin head coach by defeating in-state rival Marquette.

In the 2006–2007 season, Ryan led the Badgers to the pinnacle of college basketball, helping them achieve their first top-five ranking and #1 ranking in the AP poll in the school's history. However, this would last only a week, as they lost their following two games to Michigan State and Ohio State. The Wisconsin-Ohio State game on February 25, 2007, featured two teams ranked #1 in that week's national polls, with Ohio state securing the top ranking in the Coaches poll. The following week they rebounded with a 52-50 win at home over Michigan State and again defeated Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament, increasing Ryan's record against Tom Izzo to 11-3, before losing the Big Ten Tournament championship game to Ohio State. In 2007, Bo was named the winner of the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award.

Head coaching record

Trivia

At the end of the 2007-08 season Ryan has a .742 winning percentage at Wisconsin.
He has a .773 career winning percentage. Among coaches with 500 career wins his percentage ranks second only to Roy Williams.
In Big Ten Conference play Ryan has a .737 winning percentage. That ranks first all time among Big Ten coaches with at least five years of experience.