Bo Ryan's Legacy

[dgies9156]

Too much Bo hate is going on around us. God knows, I would have loved to have had a coach like Bo who was with us for 14 years, made two Final Fours and made the tournament each of the last 14 years.

Kinda sounds like their version of Al.

Look, we can pick on Dracula all we want. And, we can get to be good at it after awhile. But I will give Bo credit for making better than average ballplayers stars and by building a system that worked. period. He really was a great coach and should respected for it. Made beating the rodent all the better!

I hope he has a great retirement. I also wonder as much as Bo wants Coach Gard to be head coach whether the Rodent isn't going in the same direction we went with Coach Raymonds or North Carolina did with Coach Guthridge. Both Coaches Raymonds and Guthridge were great coaches but to schools that had Coaches McGuire and Smith, the standard could not be attained by their successors. I wonder the same thing about Wisconsin.

Goodbye  Bo. We'll miss beating you.... when we did.

[wadesworld]

You lost all credibility when you compared Bo Ryan to Al McGuire.

The guy sucks.  Nothing like Al.

[dgies9156]

You lost all credibility when you compared Bo Ryan to Al McGuire.

The guy sucks.  Nothing like Al.

Uh Wade, think about it.

14 years, 14 NCAA tournaments.

2  NCAA final fours.

Between 1966 and 1977, we were in the post season every year. We had two NCAA Final Fours and one National Championship. Bo didn't win it all, but he got damn close!

Look, nobody is arguing Bo is Al. Their personalities are night and day. But they achieved very similar results during their coaching tenure. And Badger fans love him!

Is he Al, No! But did he produce similar results --  of course he did.

C'mon I was there. Al turned our program around. So did Bo to their's!

[wadesworld]

Uh Wade, think about it.

14 years, 14 NCAA tournaments.

2  NCAA final fours.

Between 1966 and 1977, we were in the post season every year. We had two NCAA Final Fours and one National Championship. Bo didn't win it all, but he got damn close!

Look, nobody is arguing Bo is Al. Their personalities are night and day. But they achieved very similar results during their coaching tenure. And Badger fans love him!

Is he Al, No! But did he produce similar results --  of course he did.

C'mon I was there. Al turned our program around. So did Bo to their's!

The coach before Bo went to a Final Four 2 seasons before Bo took over.

There is no comparison.

[keefe]

Kinda sounds like their version of Al.

WTF??

Al recruited boys others didn't want and made men out of them. He put their interests first - when Jim Chones received a multi-million dollar offer from the Nets Al told him to take it. Al knew full well that losing Chones from his then unbeaten top ranked Warriors would destroy that season on the eve of the NCAA tournament. But he also knew that Chones' mom was a cleaning woman at S C Johnson and the contract would be life altering for the Chones family. Al was that kind of guy.

Bo Ryan is a mean-spirited, vindictive prick who tried to prevent a young man from playing in any school in his home state, or anywhere else for that matter, for the sole reason that the kid wanted to leave Wisconsin.

Al would have never done that. I am pretty sure Al also kept his word to his wife and never dropped trow for a young enough to be his granddaughter tart.

Bo Ryan is nothing like Al McGuire. Thank god. 

[dgies9156]

WTF??

Al recruited boys others didn't want and made men out of them. He put their interests first - when Jim Chones received a multi-million dollar offer from the Nets Al told him to take it. Al knew full well that losing Chones from his then unbeaten top ranked Warriors would destroy that season on the eve of the NCAA tournament. But he also knew that Chones' mom was a cleaning woman at S C Johnson and the contract would be life altering for the Chones family. Al was that kind of guy.

Bo Ryan is a mean-spirited, vindictive prick who tried to prevent a young man from playing in any school in his home state, or anywhere else for that matter, for the sole reason that the kid wanted to leave Wisconsin.

Al would have never done that. I am pretty sure Al also kept his word to his wife and never dropped trow for a young enough to be his granddaughter tart.

Bo Ryan is nothing like Al McGuire. Thank god.

Guys, guys, guys.

I loved Al as much as anyone. He truly was unique and he made Marquette what it is in so many different ways on and off the court. The campus our children and grandchildren have today -- a far sight better than the one that existed in the 1960s and 1970s -- was largely built with McGuire money, contributions generated in no small part by our basketball program.

The Chones story is very typical Al. He cared and his kids graduated. Chones' departure was a traumatic event to those of us who didn't know what was going on. We smelled a national title coming. But as magnanimous as Al was, he knew what was coming (Lucas) would defer rather than eliminate a shot at a national title, softening the blow. What he did was extraordinary and yes, I know of no comparable circumstance at Wisconsin while Bo was there.

Indeed, Al recruited African American basketball players long before many schools even thought of it. He was a fixture in Milwaukee and Wisconsin long after he was head coach at Marquette. I know nothing of his personal life but feel pretty confident he was the person Keffe describes above.

Remember too, Keefe, Al was hated by many the way Bo has been hated by us. That's part of what made him so endearing to us.

There is almost nothing I know about Bo's life away from the basketball court. But what I do know, as do most Scoopers, is that results matter. With the exception of the fact that we won the one big game we won, Bo had on the court results not unlike what we had under Al. That's statistically relevant.

If somebody had come to us as Scoopers in 2000 and said that if our beloved Warriors hired Bo Ryan, we would be in 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments, two final fours and come within a smidgen of a national championship, there is not a person in this room who would not have killed if Marquette had taken a pass.

That's the comparison I was making.

[jsglow]

Dg, I don't think anyone here disagrees with your assessment of Bo as a basketball coach.  But it is fair to say that his course of conduct relative to ballplayers and his alleged actions away from the game preclude him from being discussed in the same sentence as Al.

I, too, wish him well.

[Anti-Dentite]

Skeletor is number two in state history, a messy, morning after a lot of beer and burritos number two.

[tower912]

The schwing offense.  Seriously, Bo was a helluva coach, a helluvan adversary, a helluva lightning rod.   He embodied the Grinch for so many opponents.   However, he got the max out of his teams, doing it HIS way.   

http://wisconsinsportsblogs.blogspot.com/2008/02/bo-ryan-grinch.html

[legacy]

Bo did a great job at Wisconsin, and his tenure has been impressive.  That said, his impact on Wisconsin is far less than Al's.  People who think they are similar are simply too young to remember Al's Marquette teams. There is a stark difference in:

1) Program dominance: Marquette went ten years straight of finishing in the top 10.  In Ryan's 14 years, UW finished in the top 10 four years, but they also had four years of not finishing in the top 25. 

2) Starting points: Al took over a Marquette team that was 5-21 the previous year, and hadn't been to the NCAA tournament in four years .  Bo Ryan took over a team that had gone 18-11 the previous year, and had been to the tournament four of the previous five years, including the Final 4 two years prior.  There was no Dick Bennett for Marquette, and Bennett is really the guy that turned Wisconsin into a quality program.

3) Peak: Al went out as an NCAA champion, Bo went out as a runner-up -- and with a 7-5 team in who was spanked by Marquette...

[fjm]

dg is saying that Bo Ryan is Wisconsins Al.
He's not say he is Al. Just like Shaka Smart is VCU's Al. (Not comparing them, but VCU will think of Shaka in the same light that we think of Al)...

[legacy]

I'm just saying that Al was Dick Bennett and Bo Ryan rolled into one with a championship to boot.  Wisconsin has no Al, not even Alvarez in football.

[avid1010]

Al would have never done that. I am pretty sure Al also kept his word to his wife and never dropped trow for a young enough to be his granddaughter tart.

if this is true...bo and barry have more in common than i thought. 

[GooooMarquette]

Dg, I don't think anyone here disagrees with your assessment of Bo as a basketball coach.  But it is fair to say that his course of conduct relative to ballplayers and his alleged actions away from the game preclude him from being discussed in the same sentence as Al.

This.

Yeah, he was a great coach.  But even if the off the court allegations turn out to be false, the Chones vs Uthoff situations show they they are on totally different levels as human beings.

[Tugg Speedman]

Bo's legacy .... He was 8 - 7 against MU.  Should have stuck around one more year so he could have retired 8 - 8

[MerrittsMustache]

Bo Ryan's Legacy: Turning average players into good players and turning great players into good players.

[Mods, Delete me please. 8/26/2020]

This is what I will always remember as Bo's legacy: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udu6Wbb6qkY

F that guy.  No class.   

[keefe]

This is what I will always remember as Bo's legacy: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udu6Wbb6qkY

F that guy.  No class.   

This one is better. It really shows the gecko's true colors. His only comment is that he lost because of the refs.

https://www.youtube.com/v/5aluT-VpxrM

[MU82]

Screw Bo.

He did well with Bucky, following Bennett's success. He recruited for a system and ran that system well but then complained when 1-and-dones rejected his system to go elsewhere. Hypocrite that he is, he ripped other schools for going afte 1-and-dones when he did the exact same thing -- they simply chose not to play for him.

He's a whiner and, apparently, a p.o.s. as a human.

I'm glad he was denied his title. He didn't deserve to be a champion like Al was!

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

This one is better. It really shows the gecko's true colors. His only comment is that he lost because of the refs.

https://www.youtube.com/v/5aluT-VpxrM

Agreed. Bo is Crean-esque in this sense. Horrible class when they lose.

http://youtu.be/IoW20FpqEuk

What an absolute dick. Nobody but their team had it this tough. Nobody else had to overcome adversity! Go Fck yourself.

[keefe]

The man's legacy will be defined by his poor sportsmanship and the disgrace he brought upon himself, his employer, his team, and the pain he inflicted on his wife of 40 years.

Nobody forced Ryan to cavort with hookers. I will give him as much consideration as he gave to his wife when he chose to betray everyone who trusted him.

He was a good basketball coach. So what? He was a miserable human being. Adios you selfish, malicious bastard.

[Spotcheck Billy]

The man's legacy will be defined by his poor sportsmanship and the disgrace he brought upon himself, his employer, his team, and the pain he inflicted on his wife of 40 years.

Nobody forced Ryan to cavort with hookers. I will give him as much consideration as he gave to his wife when he chose to betray everyone who trusted him.

He was a good basketball coach. So what? He was a miserable human being. Adios you selfish, malicious bastard.

Wait, Bo was picking up hookers? How do we know this? <popcorn>

[warriorchick]

Wait, Bo was picking up hookers? How do we know this? <popcorn>

Get your own.  I don't think Undercover Brother is going to share.

[Herman Cain]

Al was one of the all time greats. We were the #2 program after the great UCLA teams and his legacy is still remembered today by anyone who was a sports fan in Al's day. He was a mythical figure while alive.

Bo on the other hand was a very good Big Ten coach but not even the best coach in the Big Ten during his time. A time in the Big Ten when a couple of the Big Ten historical powers, Indiana and Michigan, were having problems.

I would say the more accurate comparison to Bo was that he was the equivalent of our Crean/Buzz combo. In some respects looking at it that way Bo was not even the best coach in the state.

On top of all that he was a very unsportsmanlike guy.

[MU82]

Al was one of the all time greats. We were the #2 program after the great UCLA teams and his legacy is still remembered today by anyone who was a sports fan in Al's day. He was a mythical figure while alive.

Bo on the other hand was a very good Big Ten coach but not even the best coach in the Big Ten during his time. A time in the Big Ten when a couple of the Big Ten historical powers, Indiana and Michigan, were having problems.

I would say the more accurate comparison to Bo was that he was the equivalent of our Crean/Buzz combo. In some respects looking at it that way Bo was not even the best coach in the state.

On top of all that he was a very unsportsmanlike guy.

Well, to be fair, he did have more success than the Crean/Buzz combo by almost any measure.

Still a POS, though!