The role of a coach often goes beyond that of simply leading their team and winning athletic contests. Coaches regularly become teachers for their players for off-court as well as on-court subjects. Bo Ryan is such a coach, and he leads a Badger squad that is willing to learn the lessons that he has to teach.
Ryan is in the midst of his seventh season at the Badger's helm, all of which have ended in NCAA tournament play. He has compiled 148 wins in Madison and over 500 wins in his career.
His journey began in Chester, Penn. where he learned the game from his father, Butch, who was also a coach. Ryan played at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and moved into coaching soon after college.
Ryan bounced around various jobs until joining the University of Wisconsin staff in 1977 and parlaying that into a head coaching job at UW Platteville seven years later.
At Platteville, Ryan built a power house at the Division III level. He strung together 12 straight seasons with five or fewer losses, won four national titles and complied a wining percentage above .800.
Ryan moved on to UW-Milwaukee for two years and then came to Madison to coach the Badgers. In his first season, Wisconsin earned a share of the conference regular season title and the next year advanced to the Sweet 16 while setting a team record with 24 wins.
Ryan's finest squad might have been the 2004-'05 team, which finished third in the Big Ten. The team was coping with the loss of top-five draft pick Devin Harris and lacked the star power of a top team.
The Badgers played their scrappy style, advanced to the Elite Eight and came close to beating the eventual national champions, North Carolina. That team tied the 2003-'04 squad with 25 wins, a number eclipsed by Ryan's 2007 squad.
However, Ryan serves as something beyond just a coach. He teaches his players while guiding them and supporting them throughout their college years.
Coach does a great job teaching and explaining what he wants done as a teacher more than anything,"" senior forward Brian Butch said. ""He's able to really get his points across in ways where you can learn from them.""
He tries to give his players something that they can use in their career after the University of Wisconsin.
""He's always giving us life lessons mixed in with the basketball,"" senior center Greg Stiemsma said. ""It's to really inspire you to try to get back and prove ourselves ... it's a pretty direct reflection of how you are individually off the floor.""
Ryan himself sees this teaching role as passing down something that has a sort of permanence to it. He educates on the simple timeless facets of the game of basketball.
""Our approach to the teaching of the game will never change,"" Ryan said. ""There's some different concepts you'll reinforce; under a screen, over a screen, front this, deny that ... but fundamentally there are certain things that will never ever change in this game.""
Ryan's teams tend to be built on fundamental play and hardnosed man-to-man defense. They rarely turn the ball over and set a goal of making more free throws than their opponents attempt.
On offense, Bo's clubs run the ""Swing"" offense, a scheme created by Ryan drawing elements from a plethora of other offenses. The movement is not terrifically complex but relies on players cutting and reading off the ball to create scoring chances.
The ""Swing"" is a probing patient offense that forces defenses to stay focused deep into the shot clock. It requires players who can score from the post and on jump shots since the moment often puts guards down low and bigs out on the perimeter. Players often need to work on and expand their games just to better fit in Ryan's offensive strategy.
""The swing offense creates a lot of movement for a lot of people and we're able to make cuts and reads off each other and play together as a team,"" Butch said.
Ryan also has to support the men who play for him through the trials that often accompany college life. The team itself is a social unit of people who are not just teammates but also good friends.
""Over the time being here for as long as I've been here, I've gone through some personal things and coach has been there to support me a hundred percent,"" Butch said. ""Just knowing that you have the support of a coach behind you one hundred percent makes you be able to get through everything because this is our second family.
