ESPN puts Stanford's head coach Jerod Haase on the hot seat
Following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, many around college basketball assumed that Stanford would be moving on from head coach Jerod Haase.
That ended up not being the case, and we all know what they say about assumptions. However, Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir did make it clear that there needed to be signs of improvement from the men's basketball team in order to keep Haase around.
The offseason was filled with optimism surrounding a squad that was one of the most experienced teams in the country, complemented by top-ranked recruits, and a down year in the Pac-12. Unfortunately for Stanford, there hasn't been that next step taken this season, and they look well on their way to missing the tournament for what would be the eighth time in eight years under Haase.
Stanford head coach Jerod Haase
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The Cardinal are currently one game below .500 on the season, and with just five games left in the regular season, they need to win the Pac-12 Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament. In a recent article by ESPN's college basketball insider Jeff Borzello, he went over all of the coaches in college basketball who are on the hot seat, may amicably leave their job, or are due for a bigger job.
Stanford's head coaching role fell under the "trending toward opening" category with Borzello expressing that failure to reach the tournament with the talent they have is a major issue. On top of breaking down why Haase's time could be done, he also provided a couple of candidates:
At the end of the 2021-22 season, athletic director Bernard Muir put out a statement saying Jerod Haase would be back, but he needed to show improvement. The Cardinal then had their worst campaign since Haase's first year in charge. This season, they're once again below .500 in Pac-12 play after losing four of the past five games. Haase has had consistent, quality talent, but that hasn't translated to wins, or NCAA tournament appearances in eight years. Some intriguing replacement possibilities if Haase does leave include Washington State's Kyle Smith and Princeton's Mitch Henderson.
The candidates Borzello threw out were Washington State's Kyle Smith who is on track to leading the Cougars to their first tournament since 2008, while also having them 0.5 a game back of the top spot in the Pac-12, and Princeton's Mitch Henderson. The Tigers head coach has been in New Jersey since 2011-12, leading Princeton to two tournament appearances while also having four seasons with 20+ wins where they didn't get picked for the tournament.
While on any other given year, Smith may have chosen to remain in Pullman, Washington State is being left behind in the "Pac-2" with Oregon State as the 10 other programs fled as the conference sank. Stanford may need a fresh start as they head to the basketball-prominent ACC, and they certainly will have a long list of possible candidates after this season should they choose to go that way.
