“Everybody has got to be ready at any given moment, especially when we play the back-to-backs in the Horizon League. You don’t want to run your top five, seven guys into the ground playing back-to-backs. It’s fair game for everyone,” said UWGB Men’s Basketball coach Will Ryan. Source: UWGB men’s basketball ‘ready for anything’ to start season, Green Bay Press Gazette
Amari Davis lands on preseason poll, Green Bay men picked eighth
After earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors and shattering the single-season record for all-time freshman of the week awards (10), Green Bay’s Amari Davis has landed himself a spot on the coveted preseason first-team all-league.
Davis, who enters the 2020-21 season as a true sophomore, was the first player in program history to collect the honor of Horizon League Freshman of the Year. He also earned an all-league third team nod after averaging 15.9 PPG and 4.0 RPG.
The Trotwood, Ohio, native appeared in all 33 games for the Phoenix while starting 27 and broke the program’s all-time freshman scoring record, passing Tony Bennett and finishing with 524 points on the season. The stellar campaign placed him in the top 10 in league scoring while he finished second in the conference in field-goal percentage, shooting 51.4%.
First-year head coach Will Ryan‘s team was picked to finish eighth, while Wright State was favored to repeat as conference champions for the third-consecutive season. Newcomers Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne are slotted to finish fourth and 11th, respectively.
UW-Green Bay basketball schedules released, back-to-back games
The Horizon League announced its 2020-21 men’s and women’s basketball conference schedules this week and the Green Bay women’s team tips off the conference season with two games against UW-Milwaukee on Dec. 12 and 13. The men’s league season will tip off Dec. 19 and 20, when Green Bay hosts the Panthers before heading to Wright State the following weekend. The uncharacteristic back-to-back scheduling is to limit exposure to COVID-19. The Phoenix will have to play without fans, at least through 2020.
Will Ryan credits father Bo with helping him become the coach he is today | WFRV Local 5 – Green Bay, Appleton
If you looked at (Green Bay men’s basketball coach) Will and Bo Ryan together side-by-side, you can see the family resemblance. But Will will tell you he doesn’t have one distinctive look that Bo is known for. “I don’t have the eagle eye stare,” he says with a grin.
Advice from Bo Ryan helped lead Freddie Owens to UW-Green Bay as an assistant coach | Leader Telegram
When Freddie Owens was getting into the coaching business, he got some sound advice from a guy who knew a thing or two about the profession.
One thing Bo Ryan told his former player — Owens played with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program from 2000-04, including three seasons under Ryan — was to make sure he surrounded himself with good people.
“Who you work for is everything,” Owens said while recalling Ryan’s words of wisdom. “That’s some of the advice I’ve tried to abide by the last 15 years. Jobs are hard to get. But at the same time, you have to be careful who you align yourself with and who you work for as well.”
According to media, Coach Will Ryan adds to his coaching staff
Coach Will Ryan has added former Badgers Brandon Pitzel and Freddie Owens to the UW-Green Bay men’s basketball coaching staff. State news has covered the hires.
Sources:
Former Redbird Pritzl to join UW-Green Bay coaching staff | NBC 26
Former men’s basketball associate coach hired at Minot State | Minot Daily News
Minot State University announced the hiring of Randall Herbst as an assistant coach. Herbst brings 25-plus years of coaching experience to the Minot State men’s basketball program after spending the last four seasons as an associate head coach with the Phoenix. Source: MSU men’s basketball adds Randall Herbst as an assistant coach | Minot Daily News
Coach Will Ryan’s father, Bo Ryan, inducted into UW Athletic Hall of Fame | Wisconsin Badgers
Bo Ryan’s favorite buzz word has always been “NEXT.”
Its genesis can be traced to a playground court with steel nets on 8th and Pennell Streets in his hometown of Chester, Pennsylvania. To the hardcore local ballers, it was known as “The Cage.”
If you were on the winning side during the pickup games, the losers walked, and you’d stay on the court and offer the challenge “Who’s got next?” Make the last shot and it was simply ‘Next.’
Will Ryan surely can relate to how his dad’s system worked as a player and assistant. That knowledge gleaned from first-hand experience — on the Platteville and UW-Milwaukee rosters and the Badger staff — should bode well for Ryan, 41, who was recently named the UW-Green Bay head coach.
Source: 2020 UW Athletic Hall of Fame: Bo Ryan | Wisconsin Badgers
Q&A: Will Ryan discusses new position at UW-Green Bay | Spectrum News 1
Will Ryan took over last week as the new men’s basketball coach at UW-Green Bay. He spent the last season at Division II Wheeling in West Virginia. In an interview with Spectrum News 1, Ryan discusses what appealed to him about the Green Bay job.
Source: Q&A: Will Ryan Discusses New Position at UW-Green Bay | Spectrum News 1
Local news covers UW-Green Bay men’s basketball Coach Will Ryan’s introduction
On Thursday, June 11, new UW-Green Bay’s men’s basketball Head Coach Will Ryan was introduced with a live press conference and interview from Titletown Tech. Local media outlets covered the events.
News Coverage:
Will Ryan introduced as the UWGB men’s basketball head coach | WBAY
UWGB’s Will Ryan: It’s ‘special’ to get first D1 head coaching job in home state | NBC 26