With the 2019 NCAA tourney tipping off next month, we will spend this month taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players/coaches who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From a comeback win to clinch the 1954 tourney title (65th anniversary) through a last-second loss in the 2014 Final 4 (5th anniversary), these legends have all carved out a little piece of history in past Marches. We conclude our series with Ron Rainey, who coached Bo Ryan in both high school/college and later worked for him at Wisconsin-Platteville. Ryan won everywhere he coached throughout the state of Wisconsin: 4 D-3 championships in a 9-year stretch at Platteville, then back-to-back winning seasons at Milwaukee, followed by 14 straight NCAA tourneys at Wisconsin. In 2017 he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Rainey about the 5th anniversary of his 2014 NCAA tourney run to the Final 4 as well as what it was like to coach him.
Bo’s father Butch coached youth sports to under-privileged children in Chester, PA: how much of an influence was his father on him either on or off the court? I am sure that he had a great influence. I think that Butch wanted Bo to be a coach as well. I had Bo for 3 years in high school and 4 years in college: when he played for me he was like my coach out on the floor.
As head coach at Wisconsin–Platteville he went 352–76 and won 4 D-3 national titles in a 9-year span from 1991-1999 (the last 1 being a 1-PT 2-OT win over Hampden-Sydney in 1999): how was he able to dominate the sport for an entire decade? He was an excellent recruiter and got such a great reputation early on that people wanted to play for him. He built up the program at 1st and then was phenomenal with not too many losses (including undefeated seasons in 1995 & 1998).
In 1997 his team set a D-3 defensive record by only allowing 47.5 PPG: what made him such a great defensive coach? He paid attention to all of the details. From Day 1 to the end of the season we worked on how to play defense. Even if you scored 25 PPG you still had to play defense if you wanted to play.
Wisconsin had only been to 7 NCAA tourneys before hiring Ryan in 2001, then made 14 in a row during each of Ryan’s 14 full seasons (including all four 30-win seasons in school history): how was he able to make such a smooth transition from D-3 to D-1? I think that his main goal was to eventually get to Wisconsin but they did not want to take him straight from a D-3 school. He was successful at Milwaukee (his 1st D-1 school) so he proved everyone wrong before getting the job with the Badgers.
He was a 4-time Big-10 COY and was named national COY in 2008: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? He was always of the mindset that the players did the hard work and he was just guiding them.
In the 2014 Final 4 Aaron Harrison scored 8 PTS including a 3-PT shot with 5.7 seconds left in a 1-PT win by Kentucky: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? He took wins and defeats the same: he was the same guy after a big win or a big loss and just wanted to do his teaching. Then again, he did not lose too many games! He never screamed/hollered because it was all about the team.
Take me through the 2015 Final 4:
In the semifinal rematch against the Wildcats, Frank Kaminsky had 20 PTS/11 REB in a 7-PT win: how were they able to beat a 38-0 Kentucky team, and do you think that we will ever see another undefeated champion? With the way scheduling goes now where all the good teams play each other I do not think that we will see another undefeated team: just look at Gonzaga playing at North Carolina in December. In the preparation for the Kentucky game he never mentioned the 38-0 part: it was just another game and they focused on team defense because anyone can win on any night. They knew what they had to do and the players just had to perform.
In the title game Tyus Jones scored 23 PTS in a 5-PT win by Duke: how close did he come to winning a title? Very close. There were a couple of calls at the end of the game that were instrumental to the outcome but those things happen. The players were more upset about the loss than he was. What people do not realize is that after they beat Kentucky late on Saturday in a difficult game, they did not get back to their hotel rooms until 2 or 3AM. It is not an excuse: just how the schedule worked out.
His 371 wins remain the most in school history: did you realize at the time how prolific a coach he was, and do you think that anyone will ever break his record? I knew how prolific he was even back at Platteville: he won 4 national titles! I wonder how many D-3 coaches have won 4 titles. Then again, his replacement at Wisconsin (Greg Gard) has gotten off to a great start and might do that himself. They do some different things now on offense but defensively they are very similar coaches: it is almost like there was not much of a change.
In 2017 he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of his career? It has to be right at the top and he definitely deserved it.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As 1 of the top college coaches in the country. I am not into rankings but he accomplished so much.