Wisconsin Coach Ryan - Saturday, March 26
2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
Syracuse Regional
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan quotes prior to the Badgers’ regional final versus North Carolina
Opening Statement:
“I'm extremely excited for our young men here to be able to have this opportunity. Again, they get to keep wearing the uniform, and we keep staying together as a team. The way it works with basketball is, you can keep practicing as a whole group as long as your team is still alive, and once you're knocked out, then you can only work with four of them. So we'd like to keep these guys together as long as we can, and I know they're looking forward to playing in the next round and seeing how far we can go. But I'm extremely proud of them”
I'll ask you the same question I asked Mike about getting back in transition against teams that really like to push it. Does anything suffer or does it take away from any aspect of what you would normally would like to do when you're really focusing on getting back in transition?
“We practice the complete game. When we do possessions, we're always encouraging the scout team or teams to push the ball to make sure that the defense is back. The other thing that we do every day in practice is they have to play until they hear a whistle. There is no such thing as half court. In 30‑some years of coaching, every team I have coached, they are not allowed to stop until they hear a whistle. And that helps in transition defense. Because you never know in practice when the other team is going to leak a guy out or get back, or throw a baseball pass, a big long outlet along the side. So they have to play until they hear a whistle.”
I've heard successful football coaches talk about how scared they are on game day because of all of the treacherous things that can happen during the course of a game. I was wondering if you could relate to that at all. Not only this game particularly, but for this game and all other games that you may coach.
“I thought you meant on getting to the game, all the treacherous things that can happen. The head coach that I played for used to talk about that . I don't know when you say treacherous, are you talking about the different things that a team might do to you when you get into the game?”
Things that may go wrong for your side, yes.
“Well, that's interesting. Sometimes I'll make things uncomfortable in practice just for that very reason. And I've known other coaches growing up watching guys. If everything is orchestrated, what happens when things get out of their normal order? So sometimes in practice, we have routines. And then you get away from the routines some. And it happens. You know, the bus is late, the police escort that you have gets a little too far ahead, and you get caught at a light. When you get there, somebody forgot a uniform, somebody forgot a pair of shoes. At Platteville, that happened a couple of times. So far here, it hasn't. But yeah, there are things that can happen. But the one thing I try not to do is go crazy. You know, if a coach loses his cool because something wasn't the way it was supposed to be, don't let the players see you shaking or disturbed. Wait until you get out in the hallway and then rip a manager or two.” {Laughter} “And keep that away from the players. So, you know, sometimes you create situations to handle adversity.”
When you look at Carolina on tape, what do you think?
“You know, coaches will always say whoever they are going to play is a good team, they've run great stuff, well coached, very athletic players. So that's what I'm going to tell you that I see when I look on tape because it is what you see. I mean, there's outside ability, there's post‑up ability, there's transition ability, there’s defensive pressure. You know, I guess all you guys wouldn't have picked them where you picked them, or they wouldn't be a number one seed, if they weren't a good team. So we understand that. Our players have been through this before. Three of our bumps are against Illinois which is the number one team. So it is not as if our guys will blink. They'll play, and they'll compete, and prepare as we have for the other ones, but when you look at North Carolina, I see a very good team. A team that's on a mission too.”
Who has most influenced you as a coach, and why?
“We've been through this, but I would be more than happy to share with you again. I think growing up in my house, just competing and watching my dad coach youth teams in Chester and Aston, Pennsylvania, Sun Valley school district. He coached a lot of guys that went to St. James and a lot of guys that went to Chester and Sun Valley. And I always know this. All the guys that ever played for him would always, you know, they would come back and say thanks. A guy like Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, who he coached, I remember the words that he had to say about my dad. He was a lot of tough love. But he was very street‑smart, and so I learned at an early age, ways of getting people to do things. So it helped me as a quarterback, a point guard and a shortstop just watching my dad work with people. So you say, what's that have to do with coaching? Well, if you can't get people to do things, if you're not persuasive, and you're not convincing, you're not going to be a decent teacher and a coach. So he had the biggest influence. My high school and college coach who I played for for seven years, three years in high school, four in college. I always have to explain it that way, because people think that I'm a little slow then. But Ron Rainy, a guy that I learned an awful lot from also, about Xs and Os, and about team and about working personalities together. When to sit a guy, when to play a guy, how to do some things in practice to touch a few nerves, I learned that from him. Probably basketball‑wise, early with the clinics on defense, first one was at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. And I have always used those principles of five guys guarding three. And Dr. Tom Davis, probably as far as the recent time is concerned, just what a great teacher and a great motivator and personality, just a good guy who showed me that you can be a good guy and still get people to play hard, and be successful. And not that the other guys were tough guys, and never were nice to players, but I guess Tom Davis wouldn’t be in that category with Coach Knight.”
In Clayton Hanson, when did you think that, this former walk‑on that I have to think about giving this kid a scholarship, and then after that when did you think to yourself, gee, I'll have to start this kid?
“Well, equal opportunity employers, and equal opportunity coaches should treat people the same way. And I think way it works is that if somebody earns something, then they should get their just rewards. I did not give Clayton a scholarship because he signed with us at UWM. There were players at UWM that wanted to come with me to Madison. There were players who were transferring at that time maybe to UWM or somewhere else that might have called their high school coach and said, ‘Hey, Coach Ryan is going to Wisconsin,’ No, no, no. I was not going to take people from where I coached before. I don't think that's right, and so I told Clayton there wasn't a scholarship, and talked with Bruce Pearl and said, ‘Bruce, this is what the young man wants to do.’ Straight-A student, tops in his class, one of the top two or three in his class. Milwaukee is a great school, Madison is a great school. But there was some things that he wanted to accomplish at Madison, and Bruce said, ‘I don't have a problem with that, we'll release him out of his scholarship.’ And so he walked on at our place. And then I don't know what a scholarship is worth now in‑state at Wisconsin, but Devon Harris is making just a little more money than that twice a month. They get paid in the NBA. And so Clayton got Devon's scholarship. There were other people that got word back to us about transferring or whatever, and do you have a scholarship now. No, that scholarship is going to Clayton Hanson and he earned it and that was before he was starting. Then practice starts. In every drill and everything that he did, he kept working on his feet over the years. He was always described as a guy that was too slow, couldn't jump, but don't leave him open. You know, they still might say he's too slow, can't jump and don't leave him open, but he's a better player because of how hard he's worked and we're just happy that we were able to help both he and his family this year with a scholarship. But the companies have been beating the door down. I don't think that Clayton is going to have to worry about too many things when it comes to financially being stable, and supporting a family. There’s are a lot of businesses that are after him right now, and it is not the NBA that has asked about him.”
Do you view coaching at Wisconsin almost as an extension of what your roots growing up? You have recruited a bunch of kids from Wisconsin and a few others from that general region. You played a unique style of basketball that a lot of coaches don't use any longer or, you know, kind of faded out. Do you see that as an extension of your entire life really, and is that kind of a thrill for to you be able to do that in big‑time college basketball and get to this level?
“Well, I haven't seen passing, cutting, screening, shooting and playing defense phased out by any team yet. I don't know what you meant by that. I have no idea. Because we set the same screens that any motion offense, any flex offense, any Princeton offense does. We do the same things only maybe in different sequences, maybe slightly different spacing. But it is still all about getting a good shot and taking care of the ball, which we did so well last night in the first half. And that's probably what you're referring to. I hope coaches do throw that out and they've gotten rid of that half. Anybody watching that just burned the tape. But is this an extension? I'm doing what I enjoy. I love the game. I pay respect to the game. I want my players to pay respects to the game by being solid players on both ends of the floor, not trash talking players, not doing things that takes away from the game or that draws more attention to them than it does to the team. If people have thrown that away, I'll tell you, first of all, I don't know why they would throw it away, those kind of ideals. Because what is the game all about?”
With so many people picking North Carolina and so much hype over their talent, how important was it for your players to see Villanova pushed them to the limit to show that they are a little vulnerable?
“Well, I mean every team believes that another team is vulnerable from the stand point of they also have to play us. Jay went into the game as a coach and his staff, hey, they have got to guard us. We've got to guard them. I don't know why competitors would ever go into an environment other than thinking that if I could do this, this, and this, then here is our chance, so let's do this, this, and this. That's how we approach it with our game preparation. But we don't wait until now to put together stuff to play North Carolina State last night or to play North Carolina tomorrow. All of these things that we're doing now started the first day we were on campus, and the first day the player steps on campus. So it's a process. And as far as who people are picking and everything else, you have to understand, players really don't care about that. Coaches don't care about that. That's something for you people to talk about and throw out there and get the fans going back and forth and stirring the pot a little bit. That's okay. But we only know one thing. We have to teach and the players have to learn what it is. I mean, we can say a lot but it is what they're learning that's the most important. It's what you emphasize.”
Many people are assuming that tempo will be the key in tomorrow's game. Where do you put your team’s chances if they can't keep Carolina from running up and down the floor?
“Do you guys look at film? Does the media look at film, or did you see us play UWM? Maybe some of you have. Maybe you saw the game. I don't know. There's a team that likes to get up and down. Good team, which they've proven. I'm not telling you that's a good team and just saying it because it's another team. You saw how they play. Michigan State is a pretty good team. So we've played teams that like up-tempo and like to push the ball. You know, Maryland, Alabama. There are other teams out there that we've seen that want to do that. It is a matter of can they? Will they? And it is our job to stop them. So I don't understand. What was the score of the second game? I still don't understand all of your question. I don't understand. I really get confused and I'm not being in any way argumentative. I just don't understand sometimes when you look at scores. How about the way the Illinois-UWM game started out. How many here thought that 165 points were going to be scored? I did. In the first five minutes. What was the final in that game? I don't know the exact number, maybe some of you do. I'm not throwing it out. What was it 70‑something to 60‑something? Was that the final? Okay, so tempo, take the first five minutes and tell me was that the same tempo in the last five minutes or in the middle five minutes of the first half? What was the tempo? Our guys are like anybody else. They like to play. I mean, we've never told our players to milk a shot clock , to do this, to do that. It has never been said. And a bunch of guys have always tried to ask my players when they corner them, and they go, what are you talking about? We don't do that. We've never done it. Get a good shot. Get a good shot. That's all. What coach doesn't tell their team, get a good shot? I haven't met one yet.”
You know, you look at North Carolina, they have Sean May inside, Jawad and Marvin Williams, Rashad McCants. You talk to those players in the North Carolina locker room and they'll say, the man that holds everything together is Raymond Felton. Could you put that into perspective on how you guys might want to attack him?
“By your accent, I'm sure you're from there, correct?”
Actually, believe it or not, I'm from Connecticut but just been down there for about ten years.
“You're working down there because you knew the names and you said the names like they say it down there like Roy says them. They are all in the caliber of the upper-echelon level. So, yes, Felton, how do you control a Felton? How do you control a McCants when he gets going? How do you control May in the post. If you could see my eyes up close and I don't know what those lights are doing to them, but film last night, film this morning, and some film here this afternoon when we're done with this, and tonight, and tomorrow morning, I might have a better answer for you, but we just know they have a good team with parts that can get off at any time.”
Your career path has followed an interesting and atypical one. What were your aspirations when you, before you took the job at Platteville?
“First of all, my aspirations in college were that I was going to make a gazillion in business, and took a job with ARCO. I got the job because I was coached by a gentleman that liked my work ethic through sports, and was offered a great job with ARCO in 1969. But then because of my prowess on the court, I was drafted. I've used this one before. The local media has heard this. Did you guys know that I was drafted? Okay. It was a team in green, and yes, it was the U.S. Army. And it was 1969. So while I was in the army, I ended up being put in the military police, and then sent to a correctional specialist school when they started working with prisoners in the stockade because in the late '60s, early '70s, the stockade was full of deserters, and guys that went AWOL. So what they decided to do was to work with these young men, and try to get them back to active duty. Now, I'm giving you your answer. I started working with these guys and I found myself doing a lot of the same things my dad did for a lot of the kids growing up that he was coaching, trying to steer these guys back into the active duty. Look, you don't want to be dishonorably discharged. You want to honor your country. You want to fulfill your obligation. Get it done. It's just like playing on a team. You sign up with a team. I never let my five children quit any team that they started. They are not allowed to quit. You make a commitment, and you follow it through. So I found myself working with prisoners in the stockade doing this about commitment. And then I thought about it, and I wasn't allowed to play basketball on the base team because of my position. I couldn't travel. I couldn't go with the team to all of these different places. That was a bummer. So I thought, you know, I miss the game, I miss that camaraderie, the team thing, I decided to go back and instead of having my degree in economics and marketing, I decided to get a teaching degree in history because all of my electives were in history, and because I love history. I finished up with a degree in social science, as a teacher and started teaching and coaching in junior high. That's how I ended up in coaching. And then a gentleman by the name of Bill Cofield asked me to take my first college job and then from there, ended up back in Wisconsin. And that's how I got into it. My goals were a little bit different then. The business world is pretty competitive so I wasn't worried about competing in that. But because of my two years in the army and what I did, I decided that coaching and teaching could be very fulfilling and that you can help young men down the right path. Sounds idealistic? Uh-huh. It does work if you give it a chance. And I have been very fortunate to be able to be in a position to help some of these guys, and they've helped me along the way too.”
This notion that has been touched on a lot today. It seems like that your team is boring or stodgy.
“You said it.”
I guess so. One, does that bother you, and two, how do you think that kind of came to be?
“I have no idea. And you have no idea what it takes to bother me, Do I look like a guy that ruffles easily? I don't think so. Hey, we're in Syracuse. We're playing. It's okay. It's all right.”
Just as you can find players not in the McDonald's game and develop them and things like that, do you see yourself as kind of a standard bearer for guys who work at DIII and finally get their shot and stuff like that?
“You mean the burger players? We call them burger players. We never use one company. It's burger players. Do I feel that every time we step out in the public, whether it's here, whether it's walking down the street back in Madison, or anything that we do, when you say a bearer of intentions or of a lifestyle or a coaching style? I think every time we're in public, we are looked at as Wisconsin, and coach, and I take the profession very seriously in that the things that we do should be professional. And so we try. We try to carry that and whether it's as a DIII coach, a junior high coach, a high school coach or whatever I have coached, I have always tried to uphold the ideals of the profession, knowing that you're going to make mistakes, knowing that you have got to, you know, take a few hard lumps along the way. But there are young coaches that come to our practices. There are young coaches that come to our basketball camps. There are coaches that write and call us and ask for advice. I don't have all of the answers. But I can give them my feel from my experiences, and if they ask, I'll give them answers that I feel can help them and things that have helped me, because there are coaches that helped me along the way. So I feel at my age now, if I'm a person that people are going to say, hey, you know, he coached at Division III and look, at 50 he's at Wisconsin, in the Elite Eight, or this, or that, that's fine. But it also means responsibility, and we also know that there's a lot of eyes on us. Just like there are on the players, and that's what we explained to them. Take your position, and just as you do as journalists and in the media, you take it as a responsibility. We're all professionals, and we should act that way. Now, there might have been a couple of times last night on a couple of calls that maybe you're going to ask me about. I was trying to be professional. I might have stepped over the line a little bit. “
In general, how much do you sleep at night, and during these short turn around times, for games, how much do you sleep?
“I sleep okay because I've always felt that if you're not sleeping, then you're worrying about things that you have no control over. If I'm not sleeping, I should be looking at tape because then that helps you to prepare for the things that you have control over. But anywhere from four-and-a-half to seven is all I get anyhow, which is fine. I think my wife encourages me to take naps at times when she thinks I get a little cranky. But I probably should. But I'm stubborn. I'm stubborn.”
In terms of the burger players that we were talking about, have you bumped heads with Roy Williams on the recruiting trail, and would ever typically? For instance, Marvin Williams, would you even bother recruiting that kid to Wisconsin?
“Look, my sister danced on Band Stand. I learned at an early age. She taught me how to dance early. At every dance from the time I was 11 on, I asked the best looking, best dancing female in the gym, at the fire house, at wherever there was a dance, so do you think it's going to bother me if somebody says no? I've got a few no’s along the way. You dance with a nine. I danced with a lot of fives. And when I say fives, I mean maybe they were not as good of dancers, but I like to dance. So when you say recruiting, recruiting is like getting people to dance when you were younger. There's an art to that. You've got to be persuasive, got to have a couple moves, you know, they talk about in basketball a go‑to move. When you're a teenager in the Philly area, you've got to have a dance go-to move if you want to get anywhere. Because a lot of times, you're measured by how you dance. How you play it on the playground and how you danced. Those are the two keys. All of these names that you mentioned, we've gone after some very good players and we have some very good players. Guys that are up here are very good players. So if you think somebody is saying no to me is ever going to keep me down, you should have been around 40 some years ago.”
