On December 15, 2015, Bo Ryan cut short what was supposed to be his final year at Wisconsin and ended his tenure as head coach of the Badgers. In his 14.5 year career at Wisconsin he had gone 364-130 while making the tournament every year. Before that, he had a short stint at UW-Milwaukee and a long run at UW-Platteville where he went 353-76 and won four Division III championships. There was no question that Bo Ryan was a great coach. He was known for demanding precision out of his players and his sideline outbursts that left many wondering if he was having an aneurysm. He kept Wisconsin playing a brand of basketball that albeit not pretty, always kept the Badgers contending at the end of the year: work the ball around, make free throws, and limit turnovers. Every year that Ryan was at the helm, the Badgers made the tournament, even being the runner up in 2015 with a Final Four birth in the year before. Then early in 2015, which was supposed to be Bo's last, Bo left early to many people's belief that he was bailing on a team he thought couldn't make the tournament. What was going to be his eventual predecessor in Greg Gard had to step up earlier than expected and take the reins. Since then, Gard has gone 92-54 in the 4.5 years since with two Sweet Sixteen appearances, but rough outings in the last two.
Gard has had his issues living up to the Bo Ryan hype. Recently he lost Kobe King, a former 4-star in-state recruit, which was big for Wisconsin. Wisconsin has had issues locking down big in-state recruits not named Sam Dekker in recent years. They failed to entice either of the Hauser brothers, who were 4-star recruits, falling short to Marquette. Gard has also struggled with maintaining the same efficiency that Ryan demonstrated. Gard has never had a defense that held opponents, on average, to lower than 61 points per game, something Bo Ryan had done in almost every year at Wisconsin. While part of this could be the increased offensive part of the game, Gard's teams only averaged over 70 ppg when he had the likes of Bronson Koenig, Nigel Hayes, and Ethan Happ, former Bo Ryan recruits. Bo Ryan also did this multiple times. A few years gap, where Gard can get his own recruits, and Wisconsin is still scrappy, but not close to serious contention. So should Gard still be coaching? Some Wisconsin students don't think so.
Personally, I don't think that Gard is as good at Ryan at demanding precision out of his players, which is something Wisconsin needs if they are not going to be landing big recruits. Wisconsin has lost some big time in-state recruits, previously to Marquette or other random schools that were able to sell their program better to the Badger State high schoolers. Sure, Gard landed the Davis brothers out of La Crosse who are 3 and 2-star recruits, but they are going to need much more than that to stay competitive in the Big Ten. 24/7 Sports likes their 2020 class, ranking them third in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation, but we'll have to see if that talent can be turned into a successful team. Overall summing up their inability to lock down in-state recruits, I think Tyler Herro said it best.
Wisconsin has always been good in just about every sport at having winning seasons. In football and basketball they routinely are inside the top 25, with the football team drawing some national championship interest recently. The volleyball team has been dangerous the entire 2010s, posting great years but never capturing a title. Wisconsin has been good, but never great. If Badger fans truly want to contend for a national title, they are going to need to seriously evaluate whether that is a viable option with Greg Gard running the ship. After all, that is the ultimate goal: to win a championship. I don't think Gard is the man, but then again he's only had around 4 years to prove himself, and if he isn't the man, who would replace him? Good coaches are hard to come by and it's no use tanking your program because you don't think Gard can win it all if you can't think of someone better to run it. So what do you think? Should Greg Gard stay, or should he go?
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