Bo Knows Player Development But Not Transfer Public Relations

April 20th, 2012 - 14:59

By any measure, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan is one of the nation's premier mentors and it's a mystery why he has never been named national coach of the year. Incredibly, Ryan had five freshmen average fewer than three points per game from 2003-04 through 2008-09 go on to become All-Big Ten Conference selections. In the next couple of years, Jared Berggren (1.1 ppg in 2009-10), Mike Bruesewitz (1.1 ppg in 2009-10) and/or Ben Brust (0.7 ppg in 2010-11) could join the Badgers' vastly-improved list.

Another promising UW player was redshirt freshman Jarrod Uthoff before he chose to transfer. Ryan boasts a terrific track record in player development, but he was clueless when it came to handling negative public relations stemming from him originally prohibiting Uthoff from transferring to a couple dozen different universities. Ryan eventually relented and only made other Big Ten members off-limits.

It is painfully clear that loyalty has become too much of a one-way street. Players such as Uthoff considering their options occasionally are grilled by coaches and commentators (many of them patronizing ex-coaches) for contemplating transfers or leaving early for the NBA. There are countless instances of schools holding a player's eligibility or scholarship offer hostage out of sheer vindictiveness. How much more one-sided can it be when such a lame double standard exists?

After all, the value systems for high-profile coaches are sufficiently open-minded to permit bailing on contracts when more lucrative jobs come open. Ryan is one of the following list of 64 different active coaches who had at least four years remaining on their contracts when they departed for greener pastures:

NOTE: Amaker (Harvard), Eustachy (Colorado State), Montgomery (California), Moser (Loyola of Chicago), Scott (Denver), Shyatt (returned to Wyoming) and Waters (Cleveland State) subsequently changed jobs and are now coaching other DI schools