Stanford to retain Jerod Haase despite seven years without tournament appearance
The number seven is typically viewed as the luckiest number in existence, but for Stanford's Jerod Haase that was not the case as the Cardinal saw their season come to an end at the hands of no. 8 Arizona on Thursday.
Seven is the mark of consecutive missed tournaments for the head coach, who has led this program to just two finishes above .500 since being hired in 2016. It also marks how many games they lost to open up Pac-12 play this season, as the Cardinal started out of the gates 0-7 and consistently looked like one of the worst teams in the country. The program hasn't had consistent success since the Trent Johnson era, which saw the Cardinal make it to the tournament in three out of the four seasons Johnson was the head coach.
The expectation around the country, and certainly among fans of the program were that Stanford would follow suit of their biggest rival Cal or even Georgetown with their best player of all time, and fire their head coach after another lackluster season. That was not the case though as Athletic Director Bernard Muir confirmed that Haase will be returning next season. If you are having deja vu it's because on March 10 of last year, Muir made a similar statement about Haase returning, and even acknowledged the Cardinal haven't lived up to expectations.
You may be asking why the program struggles, and one thing for certain it is not due to a lack of talent. Haase doesn't have issues attracting top talent, as much different to football it is easier to recruit in basketball due to the fact you typically only need to take in a handful of recruits each year. In fact, he has signed five of the top-10 recruits in program history but has nothing to show for it.
Haase is 112-109 overall during his tenure at Stanford, and year eight truly has to be make or break. The Cardinal can return up to four of their five starters, with two other contributors that played consistent minutes also able to return next season. Not to mention, Haase is bringing in five-star Andrej Stojakovic and Kanaan Carlyle who at one point ranked as a five-star himself.
In order to succeed and exercise this program's demons, Haase needs to evaluate the offense they run and figure out a way to put scorers in better position. Not to mention, as the season has come to a conclusion for many programs, there are high level transfers out there that must be pursued. The Cardinal brought in Michael Jones from Davidson as the program's first transfer, who dropped 30 points in game one of the season but ended the season coming off the bench averaging just nine points per game while also posting a career low in field goal percentage.
Similar to the approach Troy Taylor took in football, there are numerous Ivy League transfers that can come in right away and be one of the best players on the team for Stanford. This team needs better shooting, better ball handlers, and most importantly need Haase to figure out how to put them in position to succeed.
If he decides to run back the same methods next season, and the program has another down year you have to imagine his time is done at Stanford. Or, the program doesn't value winning in men's basketball.
