Jerod Haase returning to Stanford for 8th season
On Thursday night, CardinalSportsReport.com received confirmation that Stanford head men’s basketball coach Jerod Haase will return to The Farm for an 8th season. Haase told the team that he was being retained when they got back to the hotel following their loss to Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. Sources also indicated to me earlier in the week that Haase’s job was safe heading into the Pac-12 Tournament, but it’s still nice to get confirmation on the back end now that the tournament for Stanford is over.
After seven seasons on The Farm, Haase is still yet to guide Stanford to an NCAA Tournament appearance, a more than fair criticism for those who feel a coaching change was needed after this season. This season’s team was expected to be an NCAA Tournament team and those dreams were crushed very early on in the season thanks to their 0-7 start in Pac-12 play.
To Stanford’s credit, they bounced back better than anyone thought they would. They went 7-6 in their final 13 league games while also notching an impressive home win over Arizona in addition to a strong victory in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament over Utah. The team clearly improved over the course of the season and was noticeably better in the second half of the season. The team that we saw take the court in the second half of the season looked like a team that would have finished about where they were pegged in the preseason media poll, which was 5th place. But thanks to their disastrous start, they ended up finishing 10th in the Pac-12.
A major reason why Haase is being retained is the incoming recruiting class of 2023 4-star point guard Kanaan Carlyle, 2023 4-star small forward Andrej Stojakovic, and 2023 small forward Cameron Grant (preferred walk-on). Carlyle is one of the top point guards in the 2023 class while Stojakovic is one of the top wings. Grant admittedly isn’t part of the equation of as to whether or not Haase would be retained, but he should be mentioned for completeness.
Carlyle started off as the highest rated commit, but Stojakovic has surpassed him in ranking while also being named a McDonald’s All-American. Rivals has Carlyle rated as the 47th overall best recruit in the 2023 class and 15th among point guards while Stojakovic is rated as the 30th overall best recruit and 8th among small forwards.
If you add Stojakovic and Carlyle to next season’s projected roster, the expectation should be an NCAA Tournament team. If Haase were fired, the risk of losing one or both of them would exist and Stanford obviously did not want to take the risk of losing them due to a coaching change.
On top of the recruiting class, another major reason why Haase is being brought back is the way he has connected with the Stanford community, his players, and his willingness to navigate some of the challenges that come with Stanford. He genuinely loves being at Stanford and wants the program to get taken to greater heights. He’s also surrounded himself with a coaching staff that is fully committed to his shared vision of the program and desire to connect with the Stanford community. Stanford is a place that cares about the holistic package of their coaches and Haase checks off a lot of the boxes that they are looking for.
Haase has also dealt with some rather unusual challenges that have been outside of his control. Tyrell Terry leaving for the NBA after just one season, KZ Okpala missing the first 12 games of his freshman year due to an AP Calculus grade, and then just having to coach in the most COVID-restrictive county in the nation. Plus, he’s had to deal with an environment where he can’t really build through the transfer portal. He finally got a grad transfer in Michael Jones from Davidson for this season, who was the first in program history.
When evaluating Haase’s tenure on The Farm, those things need to be brought up. Most coaches would have gone searching for other jobs after their star recruit couldn’t play due to an AP Calculus grade. What other high major program in the nation can you envision that happening at?
So when you consider all that, it makes sense for Stanford administration to try to give Haase as much benefit of the doubt and support as possible. You certainly want to be real about the challenges that your school presents and not punish people for stuff that happens beyond their control.
That all said, none of those kind of challenges popped up this season. Haase got the grad transfer he needed, Harrison Ingram came back for his sophomore year, and on top of that, he returned a talented group that already appeared to make some strides at the end of last season. And yet the team just didn’t meet expectations. They were picked to finish 5th in the Pac-12 and they finished 10th. That’s just not acceptable. The team’s 0-7 start to league play and 10th place finish are totally legitimate grounds for him to get the heave ho now. He should be feeling very lucky and fortunate that he has an administration that is willing to giving him as long of a leash as they have.
As far as whether or not Stanford is making the right decision, I think we won’t know until we see how next season unfolds. If Stanford comfortably makes the NCAA Tournament and has a significantly improved season, then I think it will be viewed as the right decision. If they miss the NCAA Tournament, then I think it will be correctly viewed as the wrong decision. If they’re sweating it out on Selection Sunday and say makes it into a play-in game, then I think a case can be made either way.
The bottom line is next season needs to be a lot better than this season. That means comfortably making the NCAA Tournament, being a much better team from the very beginning of the season until the end, and ideally being a top four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. This feels like Déjà vu because I basically wrote the same thing last year. Me writing Jerod Haase retention articles in Las Vegas after they lose in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament cannot become a yearly tradition.
At some point Stanford does need to draw a line in the sand and say they can’t keep looking to next year. If Haase is not coaching for his job next season, one will have to wonder if he ever will and whether or not winning in men’s basketball is as important to the university as they claim that it is.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com