Omnipresent in Bo Ryan’s career was his high level of intensity, an insatiable desire to continually get better from play to play and, above all else, success. Another more impactful constant in Ryan’s coaching life has been Greg Gard.
When Ryan first announced that the 2015-’16 season would be his last as head coach of Wisconsin in June, he made it clear he wanted Gard to be his successor.
“I’ve decided to coach one more season with the hope that my longtime assistant Greg Gard eventually becomes head coach at Wisconsin,” Ryan said in a June press release.
Tuesday, Ryan saw that hope fulfilled.
“Every head coach would like their top assistant to be the coach,” Ryan said.
“Greg’s ready. The staff is ready. All the way through, top-flight people. And I feel really good about that. His record as an assistant coach, I told the team there are people who have received head coaching jobs that were assistants at places without any where near the record he has. Not even close. And I won’t name those people for you, I think you get the idea. There’s nobody more prepared than him.”
If there’s any question as to whether Gard is ready to take on his new responsibilities as interim head coach without any head coaching experience at the collegiate level, nobody is more prepared than Ryan to dispel those inquiries.
The duo’s history goes back to the UW-Platteville in 1993 when Gard was an assistant coach at Southwestern High School and Ryan was the head coach at UW-Platteville. Gard, who was pursuing a degree in Physical and Health Education at UW-Platteville while coaching at the high school level, caught Ryan’s eye.
“I remember being pulled into his office 23 years ago as a 22-year-old college student and he made it real clear and simple: ‘Greg, that’s enough of that high school stuff, you need to be with me all the time,’” Gard said.
The relationship stuck. Gard impressed Ryan, and the then-budding head coach brought his assistant along with him to UW-Milwaukee in 1999 and then on to Wisconsin in 2001.
“At that point in time, 23 years later, I would have never dreamed that we would have the ride that we’ve had. Platteville, with three national championships, rebuilding the Milwaukee program and then coming to your own home state institution, the flagship school in your own state and to be able to continue to build this program to where it is and the tradition and pride that is involved with this program.”
As a Cobb, Wis. native, Gard understands the hold the UW program has on the rest of the state. He’s appreciative of his opportunity to work up the Wisconsin coaching ranks and, as the team’s recruiting director, he has deep ties throughout the Dairy State.
Amid the sadness of seeing Ryan go and the new hope that Gard now provides is the sticky situation brought on by Gard’s interim head coach title. Athletic director Barry Alvarez made it clear Tuesday that the remainder of Wisconsin’s season is essentially an opportunity for Gard to show how he can develop a team that has struggled through its first part of the season. Alvarez left open the possibility that there will be a nation-wide search for a permanent head coach in the spring, but that isn’t fazing Gard, who believes that process is best for the program.
“I’ve never had more than a one-year contract in my entire career. So, for me, it’s never been about the pressure that way,” Gard said. “Our job is still to put these young men in the best position to have success here as student-athletes.”
If the next semester truly is a tryout, as Alvarez alluded to and Gard essentially welcomed, it will be an arduous one for the interim head coach. Leading a team in dire need of stability under these circumstances will be an enormous test for the currently untested Gard. He has Ryan’s blessing, though, and that does go a long way.
