Any reasons to think Greg Gard's seat could be hot in 2024-25?
Since taking over for longtime Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan in 2015, Greg Gard has compiled a 186-107 record in nine seasons. He has run an objectively successful program, but is it enough for the Badgers fanbase?
To begin his tenure as head coach, Gard had back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2016 and 2017 but has not advanced past the Round of 32 since. He has led his team to a pair of regular season Big Ten titles in 2020 and 2022, but he has not found the same success in late March.
Gard's name circled the speculation drain last season after Wisconsin started 16-4 and was ranked among the top teams in the country only to go 6-9 down the stretch, with their NCAA tourney hopes saved by a run to the Big Ten tournament title game.
Ryan is a Hall of Fame head coach and led Wisconsin to 14 straight NCAA tournaments and back-to-back Final Four appearances, so it was always going to be a tough task for any coach to replace him. Ryan simply changed the expectations of Badgers basketball.
Realistic 2024-25 expectations
Wisconsin is a program that should expect to be in the NCAA tournament every season. They're coming off a season where they earned a five seed and even appeared in the Big Ten tournament championship game. The only issue is they lost A.J. Storr and Chucky Hepburn to the transfer portal and Tyler Wahl ran out of eligibility.
With Steven Crowl and Max Klesmit returning, and with Camren Hunter (Butler) and Xavier Amos (Northern Illinois) coming from the transfer portal, this team has the pieces to remain competitive once again in the Big Ten. Last season, they had the pieces to win more than one NCAA tournament game, but with the roster heading into next season fans should expect to be near 20 wins and playing deep into March once again.
This program has a very high floor right now and that is in large part due to Gard and how he has handled the modern college basketball landscape. The ceiling might not be as high as some of the other programs in the Big Ten, but the reason for that might be more than just coaching.
It would be naive not to admit that there have been some Wisconsin teams that have seriously underperformed under Gard's tutelage. But, whenever you look at getting rid of a long-term, successful head coach, it doesn't make sense unless you have a better plan in place.
Diving into the world of hypotheticals where Wisconsin would consider a change, are there any names that immediately make sense as a possible replacement?
Wisconsin native Tony Bennett's name will be floated around as long as he is a basketball coach, due to his father being the coach from 1995-2000, but he is now 55 years old and he's been at Virginia for 15 years. He hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since Virginia won the title in 2019, so maybe now more than ever this change could make sense for both sides.
Joe Krabbenhoft and Lamont Paris are two realistic names that would be speculated if the job did ever open up, but I would argue heavily against either guy being a clear upgrade over Gard, begging the question if it would actually be worth it to make a change at that point.
TONY LIEBERT