Bo Ryan Abruptly Retires from Wisconsin

In June, Wisconsin men's basketball coach Bo Ryan announced he would be retiring at the end of this season. In August, he said he might not. Last night, he surprised everyone by announcing his immediate retirement.

Wisconsin defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last night in Madison for the team's seventh victory of the year. They've lost five times... one more defeat than they suffered all of last year. Ryan made his announcement via a statement after the game. It read: "After months of conversation with Barry Alvarez and his administrative staff, as well as my wife, Kelly, I have decided that now is the right time to step down from the head coaching position here at Wisconsin." Ryan hadn't talked to some members of his coaching staff about the decision prior to his post-game press conference, where he was clearly emotional:

Badgers assistant coach Greg Gard has been named interim head coach. ESPN reports that Ryan didn't retire this spring because, at the time, Gard's father was suffering from cancer. He passed away earlier this fall.

Bo Ryan won 364 games at Wisconsin, the most in school history. He also won seven Big 10 titles and took the school to two Final Four's, including the title game this April. Bo will turn 68 on Sunday.

[via ESPN]