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Andy Katz, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Greg Gard: Bo Ryan's exit won't affect Badgers' recruiting

Men's College Basketball, Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin assistant coach Greg Gard doesn't expect Bo Ryan's retirement announcement to affect the Badgers' recruiting this summer because he says the staff has always sold the school over any individual.

Gard, who was tabbed by Ryan on Monday as his hopeful successor, said Tuesday he and the staff will coach Ryan's final year with the school as if it were any other year.

"We understand the landscape," said Gard, who has been an assistant under Ryan for 22 years at Milwaukee, Platteville and the entirety of Ryan's years in Madison. "We've always recruited to the place.

"We say, 'Here's what the University of Wisconsin can do for you.' It's a great academic school. The head of the basketball program may change but the student-athlete is not going to change. Player development is huge. You come here and we make you better. There is a process and a plan, an established culture. We don't sugarcoat it. We are honest and we try to find the right match."

Gard singled out the recruitment of Frank Kaminsky, who went from an awkward big man to the national player of the year and a lottery pick in four years, to the higher-touted Sam Dekker, who still reached his potential in helping the Badgers reach consecutive Final Fours and also became a first-round pick.

The 44-year-old Gard said he knew Ryan's retirement was coming but wasn't sure exactly when, and that Ryan had stewed over the decision for months after the national title loss to Duke in Indianapolis in early April.

Gard said he has had interviews for other head-coaching jobs, but didn't stay at Wisconsin because of a promise. He said the job had to be the right fit -- culturally as well as financially. Ultimately, his best bet was to stay by Ryan's side.

Rival coaches in the Big Ten endorsed Gard's candidacy on ESPNU's College Basketball podcast Tuesday.

"The job is so big now and I would love to see Greg Gard get it," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "He's an excellent coach and a big-time opponent on the recruiting trail when we were at Marquette. He is an excellent detailed guy."

Crean likened the relationship between Ryan and Gard to the late Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge at North Carolina, where the two worked together for decades. Guthridge ultimately replaced Smith.

There have been a number of examples of coaches handing off programs to their longtime assistants. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim will retire in 2018, and the school announced Mike Hopkins will succeed him. Assistant Kevin Ollie followed Jim Calhoun as coach at UConn. Matt Painter did the same at Purdue in replacing Gene Keady. And Tom Izzo was a hand-picked successor to replace Jud Heathcote at Michigan State.

Izzo said on the podcast that what Ryan did for Gard is no different than what Heathcote did for him.

"There's no question he deserves it," Izzo said of Gard. "I think he's one of the best assistant coaches in the country."

Gard said he has discussed this topic with Izzo and Painter, and that both coaches told him to embrace the past but that you "have to be yourself and be comfortable in who you are -- don't try to imitate someone else."

The Badgers lost Kaminsky, Dekker, Traevon Jackson, Josh Gasser and Duje Dukan from last season's team. They are relying on returnees Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Vitto Brown and redshirt freshman Ethan Happ to keep the Badgers in their usual top-four spot in the Big Ten.

Gard isn't a slam dunk for the job, but it could work in his favor that other coaches with ties to the job may be out of reach for the Badgers.

Former assistant Tony Bennett has won two consecutive ACC titles at Virginia, and Wisconsin native Shaka Smart just landed at high-profile Texas.

"Greg and I were on the staff at Wisconsin together for Bo's first two years," Bennett said. "We are friends and I know he has done an outstanding job assisting Coach (Ryan) to take the Wisconsin program to great heights. Gardo is a terrific coach and a real good guy."

Former Ryan assistants Saul Phillips, who is the coach at Ohio, and Rob Jeter, the coach at Milwaukee, are viable candidates, but taking them over Gard, when he's connected strongly to the current and most recent former players, could be hard to justify.

"Love him," Phillips said of Gard. "Nobody has a better feel for how the program runs than Gardo. He is as genuine and hardworking as they come."

Gard, meanwhile, believes 2015-16 will be business as usual.

"I'll coach this year like any other year," he said. "Bo's mindset won't change either. He will do the best possible job he can. Hopefully this group of guys will have a great experience. He coaches the present players and get these guys on the right track. There will be new faces and they will establish new roles. This group has a lot of potential. It's an unpolished group. We'll just have to figure things out."

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