In his first seven seasons as Stanford’s Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men’s Basketball, Jerod Haase has instilled an invested, tough and selfless attitude into the program.
Since arriving on The Farm, the Cardinal has won 112 games, recorded its best conference finish and most league wins in a decade and earned a postseason berth for the first time since 2015. The 2020 team was set to be postseason bound before the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal won 14 games in 2022-23 and closed the season as one of the top offensive programs in the country. Stanford downed a top-five opponent for the second consecutive year and ended the season with a top-25 offense nationally. James Keefe was Stanford’s third straight Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Brandon Angel and Michael Jones were named Academic All-Americans. Spencer Jones was an All-Pac-12 forward for the second season in a row.
The streak of elite recruiting continued for Haase and his program, with Stanford signing Andrej Stojakovic, the team’s third McDonald’s All-American in four years, and Kanaan Carlyle, a top-40 signee. The top-tier class is Stanford’s first with two top-40 recruits since 2006 (Brook & Robin Lopez).
Stanford added 16 wins in 2021-22, including the program’s first win over an AP top-five opponent since 2007 and its first over a top-25 team on the road since 2014. Harrison Ingram was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year – Stanford’s first since 2000 – while Spencer Jones blossomed into an All-Pac-12 conference forward. Sam Beskind was named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the program’s third honoree in the last five seasons.
The 2020-21 campaign was turned upside down by the COVID-19 global outbreak and subsequent restrictions in Santa Clara County, and Stanford showed its resilience and tenacity with a 14-13 overall record and 10 Pac-12 wins. The season included three wins over eventual Sweet 16 teams, two over Elite Eight programs, and a sweep of Arizona for the first time since 2008. Oscar da Silva established himself as one of the top forwards in the country as one of two players to average 18 points, six rebounds and two assists per game while shooting over 55 percent from the floor. He was also named the Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year.
The Cardinal signed its third top-20 recruiting class in four seasons, led by five-star forward Harrison Ingram. Ingram gives the program a McDonald’s All-American for the second-straight year, the first time in Stanford history the feat has been accomplished.
Stanford finished 20-12 overall in 2019-20, and remained solidly in contention for an NCAA Tournament berth throughout a season shortened by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Boasting the nation's No. 16-ranked scoring defense (KenPom No. 7), the Cardinal also shot its highest field goal percentage (.469) since 2003-04 and was led by junior Oscar da Silva (15.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg) and Tyrell Terry (14.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.2 apg), who emerged as one of the nation's top freshmen. The 20 wins marked Stanford's first such season since the 2014-15 campaign.
Haase and his staff capped the season with a top-10 national recruiting class for 2020 - it's second top-10 class since Haase joined the Cardinal - including top-five signee Ziaire Williams and four players rated at least four stars by one outlet.
Fueled by back-to-back top-25 recruiting classes, Haase’s 2018-19 squad featured freshmen and sophomores accounting for 80 percent of the scoring and rebounding. With one of the youngest rosters in the nation, Stanford won 15 games facing one of the toughest road schedules in Division I.
In 2017-18, Haase guided Stanford to a third-place finish in the Pac-12 with 11 conference wins, the program’s highest finish and most league victories in 10 seasons. Competing without two starters for half the season, Stanford won 19 games overall and earned a postseason berth for the first time in three years with a second-round appearance in the NIT.
Several players have flourished under Haase’s tutelage. KZ Okpala became Stanford’s latest NBA Draft pick in 2019. Along with Okpala’s first team all-conference selection and Josh Sharma’s All-Pac-12 nod, Reid Travis was a two-time First Team All-Pac-12 selection in 2018 and a two-time NABC All-District pick. Dorian Pickens was named an all-conference player for his performance on the court and the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his efforts in the classroom in 2018. Daejon Davis was named to the five-member Pac-12 All-Freshman Team in 2018.
During Haase’s first season in 2016-17, Stanford posted 14 wins against a challenging schedule and finished among the nation’s top-10 percent in the classroom. Haase was appointed Stanford’s 18th head coach in school history on March 25, 2016.
At UAB, Haase led the Blazers to a regular-season Conference USA championship in 2016 and the program’s 15th all-time NCAA Tournament berth in 2015. Haase compiled an 80-53 overall record in four seasons while improving the Blazers’ win total every year.
Tabbed the 2016 Gene Bartow Conference USA Coach of the Year, Haase led the Blazers to a 26-5 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark while capturing their first regular-season title since 2011. Along the way, UAB established school records for overall victories (26), conference wins (16), road wins (10) and consecutive victories (14). Also named the 2016 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District Coach, Haase directed the Blazers to an NIT berth for the 12th time in school history. UAB also finished 16-0 at home in Haase's final season, extending the nation’s fifth-longest home winning streak to 25, while ranking among the nation’s best in field goal percentage (.478 – 24th), assists per game (18.4 – 4th) and blocks per game (4th – 6.1).
Under Haase’s guidance, UAB returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2015, shocking No. 3 seed Iowa State 60-59 in the second round for the Blazers’ first NCAA victory since 2005. UAB reached the Big Dance after claiming the program’s first Conference USA Tournament title despite being seeded No. 4. The triumph marked UAB’s first league tournament title since 1987, when the Blazers won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. More impressively, Haase successfully developed a roster comprised of 10 underclassmen – all players recruited by Haase and his staff – and finished 20-16 overall while guiding the third-youngest team in NCAA Division I.
The Blazers made impressive strides under Haase's leadership during the 2013-14 campaign, finishing 18-13 overall while notching three victories against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Of UAB's 18 victories, perhaps none were more impressive than the Blazers' 63-59 home win against No. 16 North Carolina. UAB was ranked in the top five nationally in rebounding throughout the season and finished the year ranked second in the country at 44.5 boards per game.
During Haase’s first year with the Blazers in 2012-13, UAB won six of its final nine regular-season Conference USA games and collected a victory in the conference tournament.
Prior to UAB, Haase played for Roy Williams at Kansas and spent 13 years on Williams’ staff with the Jayhawks and Tar Heels. A 1997 graduate of Kansas with a degree in business administration, Haase got his start as Kansas’ Director of Operations from 1999-2003. During that time, the Jayhawks reached the 2002 Final Four and the national championship game in 2003.
When Williams was named head coach at North Carolina prior to the 2003-04 season, he brought Haase with him as an assistant coach and director of operations, a title Haase held from 2003-09. Haase then served exclusively as an assistant coach during his final three seasons with the Tar Heels.
A native of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Haase attended California in 1992-93, starting 23 games as a freshman and playing alongside Jason Kidd in the backcourt. Haase then transferred to Kansas, where he helped lead the Jayhawks to three consecutive conference titles and finished his career ranked in the school’s top 10 in assists, three-point field goals and steals. Haase started 99 of 101 games at Kansas and scored 1,264 points, averaging 12.5 per game and reaching double figures 74 times. While at Kansas, Haase was a candidate for the Naismith and Wooden Awards.
As a senior in 1996-97, Haase started alongside Jacque Vaughn, Scot Pollard, Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz as Kansas finished with a 34-2 record while averaging 12.0 points per game despite playing with a broken wrist. As a sophomore in 1994-95, Haase averaged 15.0 points and was named the Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year and also tabbed a second-team all-conference selection.
Haase was a first-team GTE Academic All-American as a senior, a second-team Academic All-American as a junior and a three-time academic all-conference pick. The Jayhawks' Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1997, Haase later earned a master's degree in business at Kansas in 2000.
In 2017, Haase joined the National Advisory Board of the Positive Coaching Alliance, the organization that uses the power of positive reinforcement to pursue winning and the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.
Haase and his wife, the former Mindy Meidinger, have three children: Gavin (16), Garrett (13) and Gabrielle (10).
