The Wisconsin Badgers posting of the open basketball head coach position is a good sign for Greg Gard
The Wisconsin Badgers have officially began their coaching search for the new head basketball coach after posting the position Friday morning. Could this mean Greg Gard is one step closer to losing the interim tag associated with him at this time?
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In my opinion, in one simple word, yes.
Let’s take a look what Gard has done since becoming the interim head coach after Bo Ryan announced his retirement back on December 15th.
The Badgers got off to a rock start right off the bat. After narrowly defeating UW-Green Bay in his first game, Wisconsin would start the Big Ten conference schedule on extremely shaky ground. Bucky would lose four of their first five conference games, although those losses came by a combined fifteen points.
But after the loss to Northwestern on January 12th, something clicked. Gard had the young Badgers squad believing in themselves and believing they can play with anyone in the Big Ten. What happened after that loss was nothing short of magnificent.
Wisconsin has won nine of their last ten games, including wins against No. 4 Michigan State, No. 19 Indiana, at No. 2 Maryland and at No. 8 Iowa. The Badgers, who at one point looked like they were dead in the water looking to pull something positive out of this season, are one of the hottest team’s in the country and find themselves off the bubble and in the NCAA Tournament.
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So what does the job posting, with three games left in the regular season, mean for Greg Gard?
It seems as if Barry Alvarez has all but made up his mind on the direction of this program and it looks as if Gard will be the guy to lead this team from here on out. Wisconsin law states the job must be posted for at least one week before anyone is hired. I can’t imagine that if Alvarez wanted someone else to guide this program in the future, he would post the job opening during the season. One would have to assume if that was the case he would let the season play out and then post the position in the off season.
I would have to think Alvarez has his mind made up on the guy he wants, and that guy is Greg Gard. He has done more than enough to prove that he is worthy of being the man in charge of this team and the way he has brought this team from near the bottom of the Big Ten to possibly contending for a conference championship is remarkable.
He’s made a believer out of all of Badger Nation, and most importantly athletic director Barry Alvarez.
Next: Badgers Post Head Coach Job Opening
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