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Minneapolis — University of Wisconsin officials, dazzled by the remarkable turnaround engineered by interim head coach Greg Gard and his staff, are preparing to offer Gard a long-term contract to oversee the men's basketball program.

Two sources close to the program agreed that UW officials have been blown away by the work of Gard, who has compiled a record of 12-5 in the Big Ten and 13-5 overall since taking over in the wake of Bo Ryan's retirement Dec. 15.

UW officials posted the job last week. According to the posting, applications were to be in by 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The anticipated start date is "on or after March 8," which is Tuesday.

Any hiring must be approved by the UW Board of Regents, who are scheduled to meet next Thursday in Madison.

The Big Ten tournament, coincidentally, opens Wednesday in Indianapolis.

UW athletic director Barry Alvarez is required by state law to post the job for at least a week and interview a minimum of three candidates.

Alvarez has said since Ryan announced his retirement 12 games into the season that he would conduct a national search. He reiterated that on his radio show this week.

"I'm going to go through the process and I'm aware of the process," he said on WTSO (AM-1070) in Madison, noting he already had evaluated several candidates through their intermediaries. "I know there are a lot of eyes on it, and I'm going to do it the right way so there's not going to be any question about it."

According to sources, Alvarez and other UW officials have been consistently impressed by Gard's work during games, practices and in interacting with the public and believe they have the right coach to lead the team next season and beyond.

Asked recently about seeing the job posted with three regular-season games left, which was earlier than anticipated, Gard said: "You knew it was coming at some point. It doesn't affect me.

"Like I've said from Day 1, we knew that was part of the process. And whatever part of the process they tell me I need to go through or whatever I need to do, we'll do that when that time comes."

Gard, 45, served under Ryan for 22-plus seasons — including six at UW-Platteville, two at UW-Milwaukee and 14-plus seasons at UW.

UW was 7-5 when Ryan announced his retirement only minutes after the Badgers' 64-49 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Gard and his staff had one week to install the swing offense and tweak the bench before facing UW-Green Bay.

The Badgers held on for an 84-79 victory over the Phoenix but lost four of their first five Big Ten games, by a combined 15 points. A one-point victory over then-No. 4 Michigan State was the start of a seven-game winning streak and UW's 62-49 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night was the Badgers' 11th in their last 12 games.

UW (20-10, 12-5 Big Ten) never finished outside the top four of the Big Ten during the regular season in 14 full seasons under Ryan. Gard and his staff continued that streak this season. The Badgers, who close the regular season Sunday at Purdue, are assured of at least a tie for fourth place.

Gard consistently has deflected questions about his performance as interim head coach. Rather, he has talked about the work of assistants Lamont Paris, Gary Close and former UW player Howard Moore, who was hired in December to fill out the staff.

"I have told the team this is not an audition," he said recently. "I will coach them the same way whether I had three months to coach them or 10 years.

"So this has never been about me and never will be. It's about those 17 guys in that locker room and how they've responded, how they've worked, how they've listened and adjusted to what we've taught and learned on the fly.

"That's what you do as a coach. I've had blinders on here, tunnel vision, just trying to get this team to get better. And that's all we've focused on."

Gard was asked recently if he planned to apply for the job.

He smiled and said: "I think I might."

It is only a matter of time until UW officials remove the interim title and make Gard the full-time coach.