In his two seasons at Wisconsin, head coach Bo Ryan has led the Badgers to heights not reached in Madison in many years.

Last year, Ryan led an undermanned UW team to an improbable share of its first Big Ten championship since 1947.

Heading into this season, many wondered what Ryan and the Badgers could do for an encore. All they did was win the Big Ten title outright, going 12-4 in the league to earn the first back-to-back Big Ten titles for Wisconsin since 1923 and ‘24. It is the first time UW has won the title outright since 1947 and just the third time since 1918.

Ryan and the Badgers won a school-record 24 games this season, advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. The Badgers’ 12 Big Ten victories also tied a school record.

For all those accomplishments, Ryan was honored by being selected the Big Ten’s Coach of the Year. He also won the award as a rookie, becoming just the fourth head coach in conference history to be named coach of the year in consecutive seasons.

Already the winningest first-year head coach in UW history with 19 victories last season, Ryan added more impressive numbers this season. His 43 wins in his first two seasons surpassed Dick Bennett’s 35 for the most of any second-year head man and his 23 Big Ten wins in two seasons tied basketball hall of famer Walter Meanwell’s school record for second-year coaches.

Now entering his 20th season as a collegiate head coach, Ryan has put together a remarkable 426-124 (.775) career record and coached teams to winning records for the past 18 straight campaigns. He has experience as a Division I head and assistant coach, as well as a Division III head coach. And he is well-respected throughout the college basketball world.

Ryan came to Wisconsin from UW-Milwaukee, where he spent two seasons coaching the Panthers to their first back-to-back winning seasons in eight years. UWM, 8-19 overall the year before Ryan arrived, was 15-14 and 15-13, respectively, in Ryan’s two years at the controls. The program also experienced a 161 percent home attendance increase in his first season, including the three largest crowds in the history of the school’s home facility.

It was during his 15-year tenure at UW-Platteville (1984-99), however, that Ryan firmly established himself as one of the country’s top coaches. He guided the Division III school to a phenomenal 353-76 (.822) overall record.