Skip to main content
All Badgers

Wisconsin's Greg Gard Named Big Ten Coach of the Year

Much deserved honors for the leader of the Badgers.
Jake Kocorowski|
Wisconsin's Greg Gard Named Big Ten Coach of the Year
Wisconsin's Greg Gard Named Big Ten Coach of the Year

Head coach Greg Gard helped guide Wisconsin to an eight-game winning streak, a regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. 

And thus, he has been recognized for those efforts.

On Monday, the Big Ten announced that Gard was named as its coach of the year for the 2019-20 season by both the coaches and the media. 

This is the fifth time a UW head coach has received this honor, and the first one not named Bo Ryan, who captured the award in 2002, 2003 2013 and 2015.

After dropping to .500 in conference play after a road loss to Minnesota on Feb. 5, Wisconsin (21-10 overall, 14-6 Big Ten) finished the regular season with eight straight wins. That catapulted the Badgers to the top of the league, finishing in a three-way tie with No. 9 Michigan State and No. 12 Maryland for a share of the title.

This season, Gard has led a team that has dealt with adversity on and off the court. In late January, redshirt sophomore guard Kobe King left the program. In the beginning of the season, he and Wisconsin fought for Ohio State transfer Micah Potter to be eligible, but the redshirt junior lost his appeal and had to miss the first 10 games of the year.

Those did not compare to a huge loss suffered before the summer workouts or preseason practices, however. In late May, a car accident involving assistant coach Howard Moore resulted in the deaths of his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Jaidyn.

Last July, Moore -- who was injured in the crash -- experienced an incident of cardiac arrest and was placed on medical leave.

After a 60-56 road win at Indiana on March 7 that clinched a share of the conference title, Wisconsin tweeted a video of Gard speaking with team, discussing about the adversity it faced in May. He then wrote on a whiteboard the numbers 60 and 56. Under them, he wrote "4 Moore" -- part of the slogan the program adopted this season to honor the assistant.

As the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin will play at 11 a.m. CT on Friday in Indianapolis against the winner of the No. 8/No. 9 seed matchup between Rutgers and Michigan, respectively.

Check out the full interview with Gard on the Big Ten Network from Monday afternoon.

More Basketball Coverage from AllBadgers.com

Update 4:01 pm CT, March 9: This is the fifth honor for a Wisconsin head coach to be named Big Ten coach of the year. Bo Ryan won it not three times, but four.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Jake Kocorowski
JAKE KOCOROWSKI

Jake Kocorowski has covered the Wisconsin football program since the 2013 season for a few outlets, most recently at the Wisconsin State Journal/BadgerExtra. He wrote, directed and edited BadgerExtra’s “Rags to Roses” series about the 1993 Wisconsin football team that won second place in the 2023 APSE Division C Project category.

Share on XFollow jakekoco
Home/Basketball