UW Basketball Coach Bo Ryan Says He’ll Retire After Next Season

Bo Ryan, the head coach of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, has announced that he will retire at the end of next season.

Ryan’s plan to retire was posted in a statement on the team’s Twitter account on Monday. In the statement, Ryan wrote that he had considered retiring this summer, but ultimately decided to stay on for one more year. He also wrote that once he leaves next year, he wants his assistant Greg Gard to take over as head coach.

Ryan has become a beloved figure in Wisconsin sports culture over the 14 years he’s served as head coach of the Badgers. Part of that is due to a history of success — Wisconsin has posted an impressive 357-125 record under his leadership, and has gone to the NCAA tournament in every one of Ryan’s seasons as head coach.

His last two seasons coaching the team have been especially noteworthy: The Badgers made back-to-back Final Four appearances, and played for the national championship this past spring.

Ryan rose through the ranks of the University of Wisconsin System before arriving in Madison. He served as head coach at UW-Milwaukee between 1999 and 2001, and spent 15 years before that coaching UW-Platteville. His record commanding the Platteville Pioneers was especially impressive: During his tenure as coach, the team won four NCAA Division III national championships and became the winningest NCAA team of the 1990s, posting a 266-26 record.

You can read Ryan’s statement as posted on Twitter below:

Statement from #Badgers head coach Bo Ryan pic.twitter.com/pVSeO5eATC

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) June 29, 2015

Breann Schossow contributed reporting for this story.