Notables

Pete Barry, the all-time winningest men’s basketball coach at the Coast Guard Academy, has announced his retirement.

The Bears went 12-13 this past season, 4-8 in the NEWMAC.

Barry, who coached at the both the high school and college level for a combined 40 years, posted a record of 262-216 (.548) in 19 years at Coast Guard and finishes his collegiate career with a record of 413-315 (.567) in 27 seasons.

He led the Bears to the greatest season in school history in 2007-08, when the team won a school-record 24 games and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bears won their second straight New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference tournament championship that season. They won the program’s first NEWMAC tournament championships in the 2006-07 after finishing in last place during the regular season. He was named the D3hoops.com Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2007-08.

Barry led the Bears to three Constitution Athletic Conference championships (1991, 1994, 1995) and three berths in the ECAC tournament (1994, 1995, 2006) during his career at the Academy.

He led his alma mater, the University of San Francisco to a 49-13 record and back-to-back NCAA Division I Tournament appearances in 1980 and 1981.Barry also was head coach at Southern Oregon for six seasons before arriving at Coast Guard. He posted a 102-86 record and led the team to the playoffs four times.

He was inducted into the University of San Francisco Hall of Fame in 2003 for baseball and the Daly City Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

Barry also coached baseball at Coast Guard for seven seasons (2000-2006) where he won 115 games and led the Bears to the first postseason win in school history, an ECAC win in 2002. He led the team to the NEWMAC tournament championship game three times (2000, 2001 and 2003). He earned NEWMAC Coach of the Year honors in 2001.

UW-Platteville conducted an extensive national search for its 13th men’s basketball coach, but as it turned out, the ideal candidate was already on the Pioneer bench.

Jeff Gard was introduced as the head coach Tuesday in front of a large gathering in the Pioneer Student Center. He moves to the head coaching position after serving as a Pioneer assistant for the previous six seasons. He spent the last two as the associate head coach under Paul Combs, who left for Division II Wayne State (Neb.).

“We had a really good pool of candidates, and Jeff rose to the top,” UW-Platteville athletic director Mark Molesworth said. “His tireless hard work and efforts over the last six years have helped the Pioneers return to the NCAA III playoffs. We’re very confident he can continue that as a head coach. He truly is a member of the Pioneer family, as he has his undergraduate and master’s degrees from UW-Platteville and has also worked in the admissions office. He is in a great position to carry the Pioneer message forward.”

During Gard’s six seasons at his alma mater, the Pioneers were 103-56, won the 2004-05 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, beat Division I Bradley 84-79 in an exhibition game, earned the school’s first national number one ranking (in December 2008) in 10 seasons, and made the 2009 Division III NCAA Tournament, the school’s first berth since winning its fourth national championship in 1989-99. The Pioneers advanced to the second round of the 2009 playoffs, beating Hope 83-59 before falling to host Wheaton (Ill.) 74-69 in overtime.

"I am humble and excited to be able to take this next step in my career and lead this storied program," he said. "I know there are a lot of eyes on Platteville as a result of what these young men accomplished last year as well as the rich tradition that has gone before us. I am honored to be associated with the great tradition in both athletics and academics at UW-Platteville and this great community. We do not make a whole lot of promises, but we make commitments; commitments that this will be about players first."

Gard was an assistant at Lakeland for two seasons, helping the Muskies to a 35-18 record and back-to-back Lake Michigan Conference championships.

The Iowa-Grant native and UWP graduate spent three seasons as an assistant coach at one of Wisconsin’s prep powerhouses, Cuba City, under legendary coach Jerry Petitgoue, and one year at Southwestern High School.

Gard graduated from UW-Platteville in 2001 with a Bachelor’s in physical and health education and earned his master’s in education at UW-Platteville in 2005.

He is the younger brother of former UWP assistant coach and current Wisconsin associate head coach Greg Gard, who attended the introductory news conference.

"Our goal for this program is simple: to make Platteville and Southwest Wisconsin proud of this team, proud of their program, of their work on the court and our integrity off the court," the new coach said. "I can't wait to get started!"