Bo Ryan Admitted Affair, Cleared As UW Probe Found ‘No University Resources Were Misused’

Bo Ryan, the former University of Wisconsin Badgers basketball coach, is embroiled in scandal after an extramarital affair with a massage therapist came to light, the Wisconsin State Journal reported on Saturday.

Well, before the affair became public, Bo Ryan had been cleared of any wrongdoings alleged by the woman with whom he had the affair, multiple sources noted. An investigation completed by the University of Wisconsin found that their long-time coach did not misuse any university funds to pay for trips he and the female allegedly took.

The affair first came to the attention of university officials through an email dated February 11, 2015. The email – which the Wisconsin State Journal posted online – painted a different picture of Bo Ryan than many University of Wisconsin Badger fans knew.

Tom Oates: Questions remain after Bo Ryan admits to affair https://t.co/F9UBLHu8O3 pic.twitter.com/hEkosOyJrx

— madison.com (@madisondotcom) March 6, 2016

In the email, the female suggested that improper use of his university-issued phone had occurred. And while the woman did not make the implication, her description of joining Bo Ryan on “numerous basketball recruiting trips to stay with him, including Kansas City, Las Vegas, Chicago and Minneapolis” prompted Wisconsin school officials to investigate if funds had been misused by Bo Ryan on his mistress.

Other information that the female brought to light was also disturbing enough for the University of Wisconsin officials to investigate. The massage therapist claimed that after initially resisting Bo Ryan when they first met in 2009, she eventually gave into his romantic pursuit of her. Things took a turn for the worse before the affair ended, the woman alleged in her email.

“Unfortunately, it became a very unhealthy situation for me to the point that I nearly ended my life, and while Bo was aware of this, multiple times when I tried to end the relationship or move away, on his hands and knees he begged me to stay, pleading with me to not leave him… As much I loved him, I could no longer settle nor tolerate the mental abuse and realized that his talk of being together, marriage, etc., were just words.”

The mistress explained in her email that she was not seeking to gain attention from this; rather, she only wanted to prevent it from happening to another female in the future. “Bo Ryan is a predator and I do not wish any other woman to fall prey to him,” the massage therapist wrote in her email.

In the official response to the accuser, the University of Wisconsin’s Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Raymond Taffora admitted that Bo Ryan had communicated the affair to his superiors within the athletic department on December 2, 2014, a full two months prior to the email the massage therapist sent.

The University of Wisconsin immediately launched an investigation to see if any policies had been violated, conducting multiple interviews with Bo Ryan. After the email came to light, additional meetings were held in February and May 2015 with the coach. The school also examined any emails and expenses reports that could be connected to the accuser.

After two interviews with the massage therapist, the school concluded that there was insufficient evidence to back the claims the woman made, the letter stated.

“We did not find any evidence where an expense associated with any airfare, hotel room stay, food, drink or entertainment expenses for you was borne by the University. In fact, in our interview of Coach Ryan, he denied submitting any request for reimbursement of expenses attributable to you and indicated that he paid the expenses for you for these items himself.”

The school’s investigation of how Bo Ryan had treated his mistress throughout the relationship also found no evidence to back the claim. “Since you have not offered any further substantiation of your allegations, there is an insufficient basis to warrant any further action at this time,” the letter stated.

Deadline was the first media outlet to break the story, providing details of the initial email and the University of Wisconsin’s official response to the female. School officials were made aware of the story’s publication on Friday, and student-athletes that played for Bo Ryan this season were told in advance, according to the Wisconsin State Journal‘s story.

Bo Ryan, who abruptly retired in December after 14 seasons as the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ basketball coach, later issued a statement to ESPN‘s Andy Katz after the initial report came to light. Calling the affair a “mistake in my private life,” Bo Ryan denied that the timing of his exit from the school had anything to do with the extramarital affair as the school found “no University resources were misused.”

“My wife Kelly and I believed that the University’s findings concluded this matter. To be clear, this matter was absolutely unrelated to my retirement many months later. In fact, I timed my retirement intentionally to assure that Greg Gard got his hard-earned opportunity to coach the University of Wisconsin basketball team.”

Bo Ryan is a revered figure within the state of Wisconsin, The Big Lead reported Saturday. Last season, Bo Ryan guided his Badgers to the NCAA Championship Game for only the second time in the school’s history.

Bo Ryan retired as the winningest coach in Wisconsin history, garnering 364 wins and 14 tournament appearances in his time as the Badgers’ head coach. Bo Ryan led his teams to seven Big Ten titles during that span.

For his efforts, Bo Ryan was selected as a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported last month. The 2016 class will be announced April 4 before this year’s NCAA Championship game.

What do you think about the scandal surrounding the former University of Wisconsin Badgers coach Bo Ryan after his retirement? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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