On Monday, the Wisconsin basketball program announced a major shakeup to its coaching staff: special assistant Kirk Penney is stepping away from the program to head back home to New Zealand. He will be replaced by a familiar face: former Wisconsin standout guard Brad Davison.
The move left many fans with mixed feelings, with the program welcoming back a program great, while seeing a terrific assistant head elsewhere. The move begs the question: how will Wisconsin’s offense look without Penney on the sidelines?
First, Penney will remain a significant supporter of the program, both in international recruiting efforts and in some consulting capacity. The effects of his offensive philosophies will also remain, even with him gone from the day-to-day coaching staff. That noted, it’s interesting that Wisconsin decided to fill Penney’s role with Davison, someone who played a different style of basketball during his time with theeBadgers. Davison’s ties to the Midwest, specifically in Minnesota, will be big for the staff, as many of the coaches currently in the program are from the state of Wisconsin.
When it comes to Wisconsin’s offense this season, I don’t expect many changes. The program has run its revamped offense for two years now, meaning the entire coaching staff is familiar with the principles that Penney incorporated and helped preach. Penney essentially acted as a contractor, coming back to Madison for a couple of seasons to modernize the program’s offense. Instead of completely overhauling the scheme that head coach Greg Gard previously ran, Penney instead made minor tweaks to the type of shots the team took, focusing more on attempts beyond the arc and at the rim, rather than mid-range attempts.
The Badgers ranked No. 16 nationally in three-point attempt rate (48.2%) in 2024-2025, which was by far the highest in the Big Ten, but also the highest in the KenPom era for Wisconsin. This number was over 10% higher than the clip that the Badgers averaged during the 2014-2015 season, when they made the national title game. Wisconsin was also incredibly efficient inside the arc under Penney last season, connecting on 55.2% of all attempts in two-point range, good for 42nd best in the country. These factors helped Wisconsin take its offense to the next level, without becoming an up-tempo offense that forgets about the importance of defense and offensive efficiency during possessions.
The only thing Wisconsin is losing with Penney’s departure is having a direct recruiter on staff for players internationally, specifically Australia and New Zealand; Penney excelled in that area in during his time as special assistant. Penney was able to land commitments from Hayden Jones and Jackson Ball from New Zealand, as well as Australian Austin Rapp out of the transfer portal. There’s no doubt that he will still help recruiting efforts while back home in New Zealand, but him not officially being on the staff will be a blow when the program recruits those international prospects.
Wisconsin’s transfer portal class, featuring many high-profile players who can stretch the floor and facilitate plays on offense, proves that Penney’s philosophy will stay an integral part of the program as it moves forward. Gard has clearly found success with this three-point-heavy, efficient at the rim, strong free-throw shooting team (ranking first in the nation at 82.6% in 24-25) during the past couple of seasons. There shouldn’t be a worry about the offense changing.
Penney’s legacy at Wisconsin will be remembered fondly, not only as a key player on the 2000 Final Four squad, but also as a visionary who helped the Badgers bridge the gap between Bo Ryan’s swing offense and a more modern, European-style offense. He may have only officially spent two seasons on the staff, but his impact on the program will be felt for a long time.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Analyzing how Kirk Penney’s departure will impact Wisconsin basketball
