In 1982, Bo Ryan tried to recruit Tom Davis to Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — If Bo Ryan had his way nearly 30 years ago, Tom Davis might have set the school wins record at Wisconsin and not Iowa.

Davis, who coached the Hawkeyes' men's basketball team from 1986-99, was finishing his fifth season at Boston College back in 1982 and received feelers from other programs. Wisconsin administrators sent Ryan — then an assistant — to recruit Davis, who ultimately picked Stanford. But Ryan left an impression with Davis and gained a lifelong respect.

'I ended up taking the Stanford job, yet, I was appreciative of Bo's interest and dedication to the university, how strongly he felt about Wisconsin,' said Davis, who grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from Wisconsin-Platteville. 'That's how I got to know him.

'Not long after that, he became the Platteville coach. I was out at Stanford by then and we flew him out as a gesture to help him get off to whatever start he could at Platteville. My assistant coaches at the time were Bruce Pearl and Gary Close. Between Bruce and Gary and myself, we got to know him pretty well. We talked basketball for several days.'

Ryan, 67, retired Tuesday night as Wisconsin's head coach. He considered retiring last April, but credited Davis for preventing him from making a rash decision.

'Don't ever make a decision right after the season,' Ryan said Tuesday, recalling what Davis had told him.

Ryan was 364-130 with the Badgers (747-233 overall), and his 71.7 winning percentage in Big Ten play (172-68) was the best in Big Ten history. In all 14 seasons, Ryan led Wisconsin to a top-four finish in league play and an NCAA tournament appearance. Seven times Ryan's Badgers qualified for the Sweet Sixteen. Twice Wisconsin earned Final Four trips and last year Wisconsin advanced to the NCAA title game.

'He's done a fabulous job there,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'It's hard to do what he did once, one year, and to do it consistently well in this league is very difficult. And I think that's what has been impressive to me because I've watched him from afar before I came into the league. I coached against him once when I was at UNC-Greensboro. He came in and put his style in place, and they've been consistently good.'

'No one could have predicted the great success he's had at Wisconsin,' Davis said. 'Just been phenomenal. You look at history of the program, and what he's accomplished, Dick Bennett before him had started to show some signs, but Bo just exceeded everybody's expectations.'

Davis helped Ryan through his formative years at Wisconsin-Platteville, which won four Division III titles under Ryan. When Davis was Iowa's coach, Ryan brought his team to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for practices and attended several games. Davis' son, Keno, worked one of Ryan's camps in Platteville, and former Iowa player Rodell Davis spent a year under Ryan. Close became Ryan's assistant in 2003. Davis called Ryan 'a friend of our program.'

What made Ryan so successful, Davis said, was his attention to details and how he never wavered with his approach.

'It's all about the teaching,' Davis said. 'When I was coaching in Wisconsin, I remember Vince Lombardi. He was the Packers coach, and he influenced me a lot because of the simplicity of what he taught. The off-tackle plays and quarterback option. I'm not even a football guy, and I knew all the plays and how they were doing it. But it was how they taught it. You see that with Kirk Ferentz at the University of Iowa.

'Bo is a good example of that in his basketball career. That takes courage to stick by your guns.'

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