SPORTS
Ryan named Big Ten Coach of the Year
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Wednesday, March 6, 2002
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year, as voted on by the league’s media members, the conference office announced today. Junior Kirk Penney also was honored with first-team all-conference selections by both the media and the coaches. Senior Charlie Wills was an honorable-mention selection by the coaches.
Ryan, who led the Badgers to their first Big Ten regular-season title since 1947, becomes the first UW coach to earn Coach of the Year honors. He is just the 10th coach in conference history to earn a share of the conference title in his first season. Wisconsin won 11 conference games for just the fourth time since 1916, and its .688 conference winning percentage is the best since 1962 (10-4, .714).
The Badgers also won 18 regular-season games for just the fourth time in school history, the most wins for a first-year UW coach.
Penney becomes just the fifth UW player since 1948 to earn first-team all-Big Ten honors from both the media and the coaches. Michael Finley, who was a consensus selection in 1993, was the last Badger to do so. Penney leads the Badgers in scoring with 15.0 points per game, including 15.2 during conference games, sixth best in the league. He has scored in double figures 21 times, including eight 20-point scoring efforts.
Joining Penney on both media and coaches’ first teams was the only consensus selection, Big Ten Player of the Year Jared Jeffries of Indiana. The three remaining first-team slots went to Ohio State’s Brian Brown, Michigan State’s Marcus Taylor, and Illinois’ Frank Williams.
Wills averaged 11.2 points and 5.1 rebounds during conference play. He was the team’s leading percentage shooter, ranking 14th in the Big Ten at .471 (96-204). Wills has never missed a game in his UW career (126 straight) and is two games behind Wisconsin career leaders Mike Kelley, Andy Kowske and Mark Vershaw.
Wisconsin is the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and opens play Friday. The Badgers will play the winner of the matchup between eighth-seeded Purdue and ninth-seeded Iowa at 1 p.m. CST at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
— compiled from staff reports
