Early years

After a playing career at Wilkes University, Ryan graduated in 1969, and began graduate work, attending Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Ryan's coaching career began in 1972 at Brookhaven Junior High School in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where for one year he worked as a history teacher and basketball head coach.^[1]

In 1973, Ryan began his collegiate coaching career at Dominican College of Racine in Racine, Wisconsin. He won a Coach of the Year award as head baseball coach at Dominican while serving as an assistant basketball coach under Bill Cofield.^[2] In 1974, Dominican College closed down. Ryan then became head basketball coach at Sun Valley High School in Aston, Pennsylvania in 1974, where he was named conference coach of the year in 1976.^[1]

His success at Dominic College and Sun Valley led to a job as assistant head coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison under head coaches Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder from 1976 to 1984.^[1]

Wisconsin–Platteville (1984–1999)

After his stint as an assistant, Ryan accepted the head coaching position at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville. From 1984 until 1999, Ryan's Platteville team posted a 352–76 overall record, an .820 winning percentage. Ryan guided the UW–Platteville Pioneers to four national championships (1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999). He also won eight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and set a Division III scoring defense record in 1997, with his team only allowing 47.5 points per game.^[1]

During Ryan's tenure, UW-Platteville was the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 1990s (all divisions) with a 266–26 (.908) record.^[1]

On January 27, 2007, UW-Platteville officially honored Ryan's 15-year tenure by naming the playing surface at Williams Fieldhouse "Bo Ryan Court". Ryan, along with the 2007 Wisconsin Badgers team, attended the event.

Wisconsin–Milwaukee (1999–2001)

On the strength of his success at Platteville, Ryan was hired as head coach at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for the 1999–2000 season. In his two seasons as coach, the team had its first back-to-back winning seasons in nearly a decade.^[3] Ryan also brought a 161 percent increase in home attendance at UWM, giving the program a new energy that continued into the tenure of his successor Bruce Pearl.^[1]

Wisconsin–Madison (2001–2015)

Following the Badgers' 2000 Final Four run, head coach Dick Bennett retired two games into the 2000–01 season. Assistant coach Brad Soderberg finished the season as interim head coach, but was not considered for the full-time job. The coaching search began to concentrate on Rick Majerus of the University of Utah (who was a Milwaukee native) and Bo Ryan. After Majerus pulled his name out of consideration, UW athletic director Pat Richter made the decision to hire Ryan as Wisconsin's 13th head coach.

Ryan's first season was much more successful than anticipated. The team was predicted to finish as low as ninth in the Big Ten in pre-season polls. The team, led by Kirk Penney, surprisingly finished in a four-way tie for the Big Ten regular-season title and received an invitation to the NCAA tournament. In the 2002–03 season, the Badgers won their first outright Big Ten regular season title in 56 years and advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" in the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers won the Big Ten tournament Championship in 2004, led by Devin Harris, and once again received an NCAA Tournament invitation. In the 2004–05 season, Wisconsin advanced to the "Elite Eight" in the NCAA Tournament, losing to the eventual national champion North Carolina Tar Heels.^[4] On December 10, 2005, Ryan recorded his 100th victory as Wisconsin head coach by defeating in-state rival Marquette.^[5]

In the 2006–07 season, Ryan led the Badgers to the pinnacle of college basketball, helping them achieve their first top-five ranking and #1 ranking in the AP poll in the school's history. However, the Badgers' time atop the poll was short-lived as they lost their next game, against Michigan State before losing to Ohio State in a #1 vs. #2 matchup.^[6][7] The Wisconsin–Ohio State game on February 25, 2007, featured two teams ranked #1 in that week's national polls, with Ohio State securing the top ranking in the Coaches' Poll and clinching the regular season Big Ten title.^[8] The following week they rebounded with a 52–50 win at home over Michigan State and again defeated Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament, before losing the Big Ten tournament championship game to Ohio State. In 2007, Ryan was named the winner of the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award. A year later, the Badgers notched their most wins ever in Big Ten play (16) en route to a school-record 31 wins.^[1]

On December 12, 2009, Ryan recorded his 200th victory as Wisconsin head coach by defeating in-state rival Marquette, 72–63 at the Kohl Center.^[9]

On January 24, 2010, Ryan recorded his 100th Big Ten Conference victory by defeating Penn State, 79–71 at the Kohl Center.^[10] With that victory, Ryan became the 2nd fastest coach to reach that milestone, tying Ryan with Branch McCracken who both needed 140 games to reach the 100th conference victory.^[10] The only coach to reach the 100th conference win faster was Bob Knight, who only needed 131 games.^[10]

On March 9, 2012, in the 2012 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament quarterfinals the Badgers defeated the Hoosiers, giving Ryan his 266th win at Wisconsin and vaulting him past Bud Foster to become the winningest coach in school history.^[11]

On December 4, 2013, Ryan won his 300th game at Wisconsin during a 48–38 victory over Virginia becoming only the ninth Big Ten head coach to win 300 games.^[12]

On March 14, 2014, Ryan got his 700th victory during an 83–57 win over Minnesota in the 2014 Big Ten tournament. On March 29, 2014, during the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Ryan reached his first Division I Final Four with a 64–63 overtime win over Arizona.^[13]

On January 8, 2015, the Badgers defeated Purdue 62–55 giving Ryan his 159th Big Ten victory, passing Walter Meanwell for most Big Ten conference victories in UW history.^[14]

On February 14, 2015, Ryan was named a finalist to be considered for election in the Class of 2015 for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.^[15]

On April 6, 2015, after losing the 2015 NCAA Championship game to Duke 68–63, Ryan's immediate post game interview with CBS' Tracy Wolfson implied that the officiating was the reason for his team's loss.^[16][17] For the game, Duke was called for 13 fouls while the Badgers were called for 15.

On December 15, 2015, Ryan announced his retirement as head coach of the Badgers.

Ryan has written three books: Bo Ryan: Another Hill to Climb, The Swing Offense, and Passing and Catching: the Lost Art. He led the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament in each of his 14 full seasons at Wisconsin; the team had only been to a total of seven NCAA Tournaments before Ryan's arrival (three of them under Bennett). He also owns all four of Wisconsin's 30-win seasons.

He coached the Badgers to the NCAA Final Four two years in a row, falling to Kentucky, 74–73, in the 2014 semifinals in Arlington, Texas, and to Duke, 68–63, in the championship game on April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis.

On June 29, 2015, Ryan announced that he would retire after the 2015–16 season, naming associate head coach Greg Gard, who had been on Ryan's staff at both UW-Platteville and Milwaukee, as his preferred successor.^[18][19] A month and a half later, Ryan announced he was "not totally sure" whether or not he would retire.^[20] On December 15, 2015, Ryan announced his retirement after a win against Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, effective immediately, and Gard took over for the rest of the season.^[21]