Stanford finally made the move fans and former players hoped would come, dismissing coach Jerod Haase on Thursday night following a loss to Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament that ended another disappointing season.
Haase’s eight years in charge generated no Pac-12 regular season or tournament titles and, more significantly, zero NCAA Tournament appearances.
Athletic director Bernard Muir, who hired Haas in the spring of 2016 and stood by his man through one mediocre season after another, is expected to lead the search for a replacement.
“While the on-court results fell short of our expectations, Coach Haase led our men’s basketball program with great integrity and made a deeply positive impact on many Cardinal student-athletes,” Muir said in a statement issued minutes after the 79-62 loss to WSU in the quarterfinals. “As we embark on the search for our next head coach, I wish Jerod and his family all the best in the future.”
The lackluster performance under Haase, who departs with a 126-127 record, led several of the greatest players in school history to call for Haase’s job.
“I believe a coaching change needs to be made,” former Stanford All-American Casey Jacobsen said last week.
As a college basketball analyst for Fox, Jacobsen has called numerous Stanford games over the years.
“I’m sensitive to calling out an individual when I’m not in the locker room every day and don’t know what’s going on every day,” he said. “But I watch that team play more than anyone who’s not in the locker room, and I study that team more than anyone who’s not in the locker room, and it’s not pretty.”
Under Haase, Stanford has produced a winning record in conference play just once: in 2018, when it finished in a three-team tie for third place, three games behind Arizona.
Since then, it has not placed higher than sixth.
Haase has never reached the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament or led the Cardinal into March Madness despite productive recruiting. He has signed 16 blue-chip prospects in seven years — and the current roster has six of them.
“I can’t answer whether Jerod is getting the fiscal support and the university support,” said ex-Stanford forward Josh Childress, the 2004 Pac-12 Player of the Year.
“But I know that the team lacks consistency. Are the problems the result of the staff? Partly. Are they a result of the university? Partly. Are they a result of the players? Partly. It’s probably a little of everything.”
The coaching change comes at a critical moment for Stanford, which will enter the ACC next season.
The Cardinal described the next step as a “national search,” but one name can be excluded from the list of potential candidates:
Former Stanford star Mark Madsen, who was hired by Cal last spring when Muir chose to retain Haase, completed a successful rookie year in Berkeley and just signed a contract extension.
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