EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo’s rivalry with Bo Ryan as head coaches at Michigan State and Wisconsin, respectively, started in memorable fashion and ended in the same way.

Unfortunately for Izzo, both ended in losses – the first halting MSU’s 53-game winning streak at Breslin Center in a 64-63 loss in Jan. 2002 and the last an 80-69 overtime loss in the Big Ten Tournament title game last season.

Those might not have been the happiest days for Izzo, but he always respected the former Wisconsin coach and the rivalry that developed over the years.

“I think he made me a better coach, you know?” Izzo said. “It was a team that, every time you played them, you knew you had to beat them because they weren’t gonna beat (themselves). And that makes you coach harder, that makes you work harder, that makes you prepare harder.

“Yeah, I’m gonna miss the fact that he was a staple.”

Ryan announced his immediate retirement on Tuesday following Wisconsin’s 64-49 win against Texas A&M-Corpus Cristi. He finished with a 364-130 record in 14-plus seasons at the helm, taking Wisconsin to the national championship game last season.

Ryan initially announced in June that the 2015-16 would be his last, but in August said he was not sure about that decision anymore. He then made the decision in full and announced it Tuesday night.

The news came as a surprise to the college basketball world as a whole, including Izzo, as he and Ryan spoke just last week and spoke again Thursday.

“He felt that Gard deserved a chance, so I think he did it all for the right reasons,” Izzo said. “There’s no illness, there’s no wrong reasons. It’s not that he’s frustrated with a couple losses. It was all for the right reasons and I believed that wholeheartedly.”

Izzo he thought it was a decision Ryan might have made this summer if not for Gard’s father, Glen, being diagnosed with cancer in the spring and his condition worsening through the summer before he passed away this fall. Now, Gard will take over the head coaching duties and the situation draws some similarities to Izzo’s path to take over at Michigan State, as he was a veteran assistant coach under Jud Heathcote before taking over in 1995.

“I went through it a little bit and (Gard) has been with him 23 years,” Izzo said. “I think he is a good coach. I’ve been with him on the road. I’m a fan of his. But it’s strange how things happen. I still look at it like if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And that program sure ain’t broke. So we’ll see what they do.”

The Spartans have two meetings with Wisconsin this season, the first a month from Thursday on Jan. 17 in Madison, Wisc., and the second in East Lansing on Feb. 18.

It will be a different sight for the Spartans then, seeing a sideline without the Badgers’ coach that has been there since 2001.

“He was one of my favorite coaches in the Big Ten,” senior guard Denzel Valentine said. “Whenever we see each other, he was always joking around with me. He was a very cool guy to me and I respect him a lot.”

Ryan retires with the upper hand in the rivalry with Izzo, holding a 16-12 advantage. He started out rolling with six straight wins and a 10-3 start, but Izzo had a 9-5 edge in the past 14 meetings.

In the course of those games – and times off the court – their bond was forged and Izzo said he always respected Ryan doing things his own way and for his honesty.

“I really feel good for him, because he’s happy,” Izzo said. “I think he did it his way. And I think he did it for the right reasons.”