Earlier this week, the Fox Sports crew put a graphic up on social media that listed the "Top 10 Big Ten Coaches of All-Time," and it had the usual suspects, but there were clearly some issues with it, most notably the ranking of Wisconsin's legendary basketball coach, Bo Ryan. Wisconsin fans did not hold back their scorn of the graphic makers.
In honor of Tom Izzo breaking the record for most @bigten conference wins, we ranked the top 10 greatest coaches in conference history 🏀 pic.twitter.com/rfVfb9dTeO
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 17, 2025
Bo Ryan is one of the top Big Ten Coaches of all-time, though UW fans thought Fox put him too low
The Fox Sports crew has him at 8th all-time and that honestly, is way too low. No one is arguing for him to be the top coach of all time, or even in the top two but for him to be below Matt Painter who is currently on a three-game slide and benefited a ton from four years of Zach Edey.
Matt painter over bo Ryan 😂
— Inside Wisconsin (@InsideWisconsin) February 18, 2025
Bo Ryan has the best winning % in the big ten all time. He’s the only coach to never miss the ncaa tourney. Only coach to never finish below 4th in the big ten. Unfortunately he got fucked over in 2015 title game or he’d have a d1 ring. Regardless he should be higher than this
— Goof Troop (@Jobo512) February 18, 2025
Bo Ryan never missed the NCAA Tournament and never finished below a tie for 4th. Matt Painter, on the other hand, has missed the tournament 3 times (and would have a 4th time in 2020).
— Ian (@accountofian) February 18, 2025
The comments are flooded with much more of the same, and you could spend all day scrolling through it, but the point is clear. Bo Ryan was snubbed on this list and Wisconsin fans were clear on why they think that to be the case.
There's not much argument for Bob Knight, who accumulated so much hardware at Indiana while coaching that he could build a house with it. He has three national championships, five final fours, and 11 Big Ten titles. There's also not a bunch to argue about with the second or third.
There are some Wisconsin fans that want to see Ryan all the way up to 4th but without a national championship ring, it's hard to argue that spot. Fred Taylor has at least one of those. Gene Keady is where things start to show that maybe it was a Purdue fan who made this list. The man never took Purdue to a final four, and somehow is five? Matt Painter has a better case than Keady.
The reality is, Bo Ryan is way too low and this list is faulty because of it. Wisconsin fans were quick to showcase why.