In December of 2015, just 12 games into the 2015-2016 season, legendary UW-Madison men’s basketball team coach Bo Ryan retired and handed the team over to his long-time assistant coach Greg Gard. This was Gard’s first head coaching job ever — he had spent the last 22 years as Ryan’s assistant coach at UW-Platteville, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison.
Gard was taking over one of the most successful programs in the country. The Badgers had made the last 17 NCAA tournaments including Final Four appearances in 2000, 2014 and 2015 and even made the national championship in 2015, the season right before Gard took over.