Bo Ryan Cements His Unforgettable Legacy at Wisconsin by Going out on His Terms

I wish I could say I remember it like it was yesterday. The truth is—probably because there's so little good to remember—it's more like a blur.

There were 60 wins and 62 losses overall. There was a truly ignoble Big Ten mark of 24-48. That's how Wisconsin's basketball program fared during my four years as a student at the school, from 1988-92.

Yet would you believe that four-season stretch was pretty much wildly successful by Wisconsin standards at the time? It included a pair of 8-10 records in Big Ten play, the best for the Badgers since the league went to an 18-game schedule in 1974-75. It included a pair of NIT appearances—incredibly, Wisconsin's only postseasons of any kind since the 1940s.

The coach while I was there, Steve Yoder, lasted a full decade at the school despite records of 128-165 overall and—for the love of cheddar—50-130 in the conference. And that's what the great Bo Ryan's retirement Tuesday night made me think about. Not about Yoder, specifically, or even about my own forgettable experiences watching those awful Badgers teams, but rather about the utter irrelevance and invisibility of Wisconsin basketball for so long.  And, of course, about how great Bucky fans have it now, and did for 14-plus seasons on Ryan's watch.

No, my head isn't entirely buried in the past. How could it be? The present has been so much better. The Final Fours in 2014 and 2015 were off-the-charts exciting. The four Big Ten titles—at a school that hadn't finished first in the league since 1947—were testaments to Ryan's excellence.

But the achievement that stands above the rest will always be Ryan's run of 14 Big Ten top-four finishes in 14 seasons. Ask Tom Izzo how hard that is. Or Bobby Knight, Gene Keady, Lou Henson, Jud Heathcote...

Or come to think of it, don't bother. Because none of them ever did it. Only Ryan did.

Year	Record	Standing
2001-02	11-5	T-1st
2002-03	12-4	1st
2003-04	12-4	T-2nd
2004-05	11-5	3rd
2005-06	9-7	T-4th
2006-07	13-3	2nd
2007-08	16-2	1st
2008-09	10-8	T-4th
2009-10	13-5	4th
2010-11	13-5	3rd
2011-12	12-6	4th
2012-13	12-6	T-4th
2013-14	12-6	T-2nd
2014-15	16-2	1st

"He is a legend," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said during Ryan's press conference Tuesday night.

I admit to getting a kick out of the fact Ryan seems to have been underestimated one final time. The guy who made Madison a road trip from hell for opposing teams, who made his Badgers teams' "boring" style totally cool, who contended year after year in a top conference despite plenty of reasons that shouldn't have been possible—that guy just showed us the mother of all examples of going out on his own terms.

In a nutshell, Ryan wanted longtime assistant Greg Gard to succeed him, but Alvarez—the Don of Wisconsin sports—preferred to mull the issue and arrive at his own decision in due time, thank you very much. So what did Ryan do? Rather than retire at season's end, he forced Gard on Alvarez. Mind you, Alvarez, the architect of the modern era of Wisconsin football, is a legend himself in Madison. Yet Ryan more than stood his ground, as only a comparatively transformative figure at the school could.

"I wanted to give Coach Gard plenty of time to get the guys ready and get them into the position where, as a head coach, he has a chance to take a run at the job," Ryan said during the press conference. "That's the way this business is. Coach Gard will have that chance."

Also, I admit to having much concern about Gard's—or anyone else's—chances to sustain Ryan's success. This season's team is 7-5 and clearly far inferior to the Final Four squads of Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.

Will Gard shepherd the Badgers to a 15th straight top-four finish in the Big Ten? At this point, it doesn't look good. After that, it'll be a matter of Gard, or a different successor hired by Alvarez, attempting to be like Bo; that is, to consistently perform at as high a level as any coach in the country.

It's quite the tall order.

Andy Manis/Associated Press

Ryan wasn't the first coach to take Wisconsin to soaring heights. Dick Bennett, who led the Badgers to the 2000 Final Four, laid a solid foundation and proved winning was possible in Madison. Yet even Bennett's five full seasons on the job came with mitigated success; his teams were only 39-45 in conference play, for example. What Ryan did boggles the mind. Clearly, he stands alone.

Much as Alvarez stands alone in Wisconsin football annals. Bret Bielema—ironically, Alvarez's hand-picked successor—came close, but his three Rose Bowl-losing seasons pale in comparison to Alvarez's three Rose Bowl-winning ones. Gary Andersen did OK in his brief stay. Paul Chryst? We'll see. Chances are, Chryst will do better than 9-35, which was Wisconsin's football record over my four years there.

Realistically speaking, the fans will be thrilled if the basketball program ebbs only as much post-Ryan as the football program did post-Alvarez.

Yes, Ryan's departure is a real blow, but who am I kidding? Over 14-plus unforgettable seasons, he made my school matter in basketball. Because of him, the Badgers are more relevant than ever. Due in large part to his brilliance, Wisconsin is a giant among the nation's sports schools.

Disappointed? Not at all. I've seen how bad it can be. Just thankful.

Steve Greenberg has covered college sports for nearly 20 years, namely for the Sporting News and the Chicago Sun-Times.