Tough debate for Wisconsin assistant: current Badgers or ‘87 Hawkeyes?

INDIANAPOLIS - Wisconsin assistant Gary Close stood in a locker room entryway at Lucas Oil Stadium with a pensive expression.

Close wasn't prepared for the question he was dealt, which was well beyond preparing for unbeaten Kentucky or handling his fun-loving bunch of Badgers. This was a King Solomon moment.

Who was better: the 1987 Iowa Hawkeyes or the current Badgers?

'That's a real tough question,” Close said. 'That's two really talented teams. I don't know if I even want to stick my neck out on that one. They're both fun to coach, and they're both very talented.

'Both teams could score. We'd been a pretty high scoring team this year. We've got some weapons, and that team had some fantastic weapons.”

Close was in his first year as an Iowa assistant under Tom Davis back in 1986-87. That team opened 18-0 and was ranked No. 1 for part of the season. The Hawkeyes earned a No. 2 NCAA tournament seed, advanced to the Elite Eight and led top-seeded UNLV by 20 points at halftime. But UNLV rallied in the second half to beat Iowa 84-81.

Those memories linger for Close, who has assisted Bo Ryan at Wisconsin for the last 12 seasons.

'When you first get in, like when we came to Iowa, and we go to the Elite Eight the first year, you're like, ‘Oh, we'll be back,'” Close said. 'It's so hard to get here. (Duke) Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski had a great quote (Thursday) about how hard it is. That Elite Eight game may be as hard of a game to win as any other except for maybe the championship game. It's so hard.

'We had an Elite Eight game at Iowa that was right down to the wire, and we've been in a couple of Elite Eight games here and lost. So when you finally get there, and I've been coming to Final Fours since 28 years and always dreamed what would it be like to be down here coaching, and to do it back-to-back is really surreal. You feel very fortunate because it's difficult to do. A lot of great coaches never get an opportunity to do it.”

Close spent 13 years at Iowa before Davis, Iowa's all-time wins leader, was forced out in 1999. Close then made phone calls, wrote letters and met in person with other coaches while trying to get back into college basketball. He coached Iowa City Regina's boys' basketball team for three seasons and contemplated talking a Division III coaching job. That's when he called Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan and his life changed.

Ryan and Close first met in the mid-1980s when Ryan took over at Wisconsin-Platteville. Davis, then Stanford's coach, remained in touch with the Wisconsin-Platteville program, where he played basketball in the 1950s. Davis invited Ryan to spend time at Stanford watching practice before Wisconsin-Platteville's season began. Ryan, who is from Chester, Pa., and Close, a New Jersey native, immediately hit it off. They stayed in touch over the years, playing golf and meeting at the Final Four.

'I called for advice on a Division III job in Iowa and would he call for me,” Close said, 'and he said, ‘I'd be glad to, but I just had an opening. Tony Bennett went out with his dad to Washington State, if you want to get back in.' And I said, ‘Tell me when I start.'

'I'm very fortunate.”

Close has enjoyed significant success as an assistant. Of his 25 seasons in the Big Ten, his teams qualified for 21 NCAA tournaments. Nine seasons they advanced to at least the Sweet Sixteen, four Elite Eight appearances and now with the Badgers, consecutive Final Fours.

In what he calls 'one of the highlights of my coaching career,” Close takes satisfaction in the 1998-99 Iowa squad reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Davis' contract was not renewed beyond that season so there were no recruiting responsibilities or public appearances. It was just straight player development.

'It might have been as fun of a year of coaching as I've ever had because really all we had to do was focus on coaching,” Close said. 'The other parts didn't really matter because there wasn't going to be a next year. ‘Hey, let's have as much fun as we can, let's coach ‘em up as best as we can, and the guys really responded.' It's still a close group.

'It was a great run. We ended up getting beat by a team that ended up winning it all (Connecticut) and gave them a heck of a game.”

As expected, Close considers this group of Badgers as special. Wisconsin (35-3) won both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles as well as the regional title. Center Frank Kaminsky was named the nation's player of the year Friday by the United States Basketball Writers Association. Close would consider a head-coaching job if it became available, but with that success and the people with which he works, he enjoys his current position, too.

'There's a lot of people that would love to have my job,” Close said. 'In this league (the Big Ten), I'm prejudiced, but I think it's the best league in the country. Great coaches, great competition. I work for a Hall of Fame coach. I worked for a Hall of Fame coach, I think, at Iowa. If it happens, great, if it doesn't, so be it.

'You get away from it and take a look back, you say, ‘Whoa that was a pretty impressive run in a very tough league and a very competitive time,'” Close said of his time at Iowa. 'The league was brutal at that time, some tremendous teams. This league is tough. This league will grind you up. So when you look back at the whole record, you say, that was pretty good.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com