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| Retired Wisconsin Basketball Coach Bo Ryan Photo of TBS Final Four Coverage 4/4/2015 (dwm) |
Working at WISC-TV in Madison at the time as the Rock County Bureau reporter, I was assigned to interview him before the NCAA Division III Final Four.
My job as a reporter-photographer was all-purpose. I regularly did stories on agriculture, General Motors (Janesville was home to a large plant at the time), breaking news, and sports.
Just 44 at the time, he had been coaching for 20 years. He started coaching at the junior high level before moving up to a job as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1976. The Pioneers hired him in 1984.
In 1991, I was aware of UW - Platteville's basketball program, but that was it. The interview was for our sports department. They had video to serve as "B-roll" around Coach Ryan's soundbites for the sports segment of the night's news. I set up lights and camera then gave him a mic to attach to his collar. Then I asked him questions in his tiny office. (B-roll is a term that dates back before digital and before videotape - it's the video you see when the anchor or reporter is speaking.)
Looking back nearly 30 years, I remember his intensity and strong personality. The impression he made was similar to Russell Means, Governor Bill Janklow, and a few others I met or interviewed along the way - there was a strong charismatic presence about him.
Years later, after three more D-III titles, UW-Milwaukee hired him. Three seasons after that, Ryan was selected to succeed Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett.
Ryan coached Wisconsin for fifteen seasons, with two Final Four appearances and finishing as the Runner-up to Duke at the end of the 2014-15 season. He retired after 12 games the next season, setting up his long-time assistant Greg Gard to takeover the program.
I couldn't have predicted his success back when I met him, but it wasn't a surprise. He seemed marked for success way back in 1991.
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