Stanford Fires One-Time Cal Guard Jerod Haase After 8 Seasons As Its Coach
Two days after Cal gave a contract extension to the Stanford grad coaching its basketball team, Stanford fired the one-time Cal player who had led its squad the past eight seasons.
Stanford cut ties with Jerod Haase on Thursday, immediately after the Cardinal’s 79-62 loss to Washington State in in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament at Las Vegas.
"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," athletic director Bernard Muir said in a statement. "As we embark on the search for our next head coach, I wish Jerod and his family all the best in the future.”
On Tuesday, the day before Cal lost to Stanford in their Pac-12 tourney opener, the Bears gave first-year coach Mark Madsen a two-year contract extension. The former Stanford star is now signed through the 2029-30 season.
Haase addressed the news in his post-game press conference Thursday night.
“I look at my job and I suppose I’m a little bit old school and multi-faceted,” he said. “One of the things is this is a place where I believe dearly about scholar-athletes. And I have coached for years tremendous scholar-athletes.
“But I’ll be leaving very proud of the team accomplishments. The reality is I did nothing but recruit highly exceptional kids. I also believe in development and I’m leaving proud of what my staff and I have done on the court and off the court in developing our student-athletes.”
Haase, who played in the 1993 Sweet 16 as a freshman at Cal, never guided Stanford into the NCAA tournament in eight seasons. He recruited well but his teams often faded late in the season.
He acknowledged his eight seasons often were “challenging,” citing the changing landscape of college athletics and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The other big part of my job is winning games and this doesn’t have anything to do with anyone else’s standards (but) my own standards. I have not won here to the level I expect. Just like I hold my team accountable, I’ve been held accountable and I have no issue with that.”
He compiled a record of 126-126 at Stanford, but the program produced just one winning Pac-12 season in his eight campaigns. That was in his second season of 2017-18, when Stanford was 11-7 in conference and on the cusp of an NCAA bid before losing its final four games.
The Cardinal was 14-18 this season, including in a three-way tie for ninth place at 8-12 in the Pac-12. Cal finished in a three-way tie for sixth at 9-11.
Haase, who turns 50 on April 1, was recruited to Cal by coach Lou Campanelli of South Lake Tahoe. Together with Jason Kidd, he formed an all-freshman backcourt on the team that upset two-time defending national champion Duke in the second round of the NCAAs.
Haase started 26 games in 1992-93 and averaged 7.2 points for the Bears. He had perhaps his best game in a 104-82 victory at UCLA, contributing 16 points and five assists three days after his father unexpectedly died.
After Campanelli was fired mid-season, interim coach Todd Bozeman played Haase off the bench in a number of games, including all three in the NCAA tournament. But he scored 13 points in the win over Stanford and 10 as the Bears were eliminated by Kansas in the regional semifinals.
He then transferred to Kansas, where he averaged 12.5 points and was a fan favorite, helping the Jayhawks compile a three-year of 88-13, including trips to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament each season.
Before arriving at Stanford, Haase was head coach at Alabama-Birmingham for four seasons (2013-16), compiling a record of 80-53 and earning one trip to the NCAAs.
Cover photo of Jerod Haase at his Thursday night news conference by Kirby Lee, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
