By Ray Hamill — If there are two things Ryan Bisio knows more about that anything else, they are basketball and music.
And he has long believed that the two of them are more closely related than most believe perceive, a concept that has played a huge role in his success.
A standout basketball player during his playing days here on the North Coast, an accomplished musician for much of the past three decades, and one of the most successful coaches in College of the Redwoods history, Bisio has spent the past 11 years working on a book detailing the close relationship between his two great passions.
The book, Musicality of the Game: The Artistry of Basketball, will be officially released on Tuesday.
“Those principles have been my own approach to get the best out of my teams,” he said, before adding with a chuckle, “Any player I’ve ever coached will tell you I’ve droned on and on about them.”
Bisio, who enjoyed the most successful run in CR basketball history before stepping down in early 2025, may have found a new calling in life.
According to the first-time author, “the book’s main argument is that the universal fundamentals of music theory unlock basketball’s deepest secrets, and create a more sensory experience of the game.”
The book, he admits, was a labor of love and took more than a decade to write.
But really it began way before that.
When Bisio was just six-years-old, he placed first at a Junior Olympics bowling tournament and won a piano as a prize.
That began a life-long passion that has continued to grow.
“I started as a classical pianist as a child and transitioned to guitar when I was in college and became a songwriter and composer,” he said. “I was a touring musician throughout my 20s and played with some well-known acts, and I learned a lot about music and art through that journey.”
It was during a stint coaching in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 2011 to 2014, that the idea really took hold.
“The light bulb moment came to me when I was coaching in Europe,”: he said. “I just felt like I was feeling the game in ways my peers weren’t at the time, and I was curious whether my background in music was contributing to that.”
The book is a series of short stories about his experiences as a coach and a musician and how five elements of music — rhythm, tempo, harmony, melody and tone — can help players and fans understand the game flow better.
“Ultimately, I view basketball as performance art,” Bisio said.
Bisio led Redwoods to four conference championships in five full seasons with the program and was named state Coach of the Year in 2023.
What many local fans don’t know, however, is that he is an equally accomplished musician and has nine studio releases to his credit over the past 21 years, including his first studio album, Sketches – The Home Recordings, in 2005.
He describes his music as “blues influenced with a little folk influence,” and says The Beatles are among his biggest influences.
“They kind of taught everybody what the fundamentals of music are,” he said.
Musicality of the Game: The Artistry of Basketball, which has been described as “part coaching manual, part memoir, part love letter to the frequencies that connect us” will be available “wherever books are sold” from Tuesday, but for anyone who doesn’t want to wait until then, copies are now available at The Bootlegger in Old Town Eureka.
