UAB men’s basketball coach Jerod Haase has accepted the head coaching position at Stanford. Jeff Goodman of ESPN first reported the news on Friday morning and Stanford formally announced it Friday afternoon.
Haase, who turns 42 on April 1, went 82-53 in four seasons at UAB. That includes two consecutive 20-win seasons; an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015, which included an upset of Iowa State in the first round; and a 26-7 record this year, which secured the Blazers the regular season Conference USA title.
“Stanford University is a world-class institution which represents excellence across the board,” said Haase in a written statement. “We will compete for championships by doing it the right way and graduating young men who will go on to accomplish great things in the world. I am humbled by the opportunity afforded to me by [Stanford athletic director] Bernard [Muir], and my family and I are eager to get started.”
This is a homecoming of sorts for the South Lake Tahoe, California native. He attended and played at the University of California for one year before transferring to Kansas in 1993 and starting 99 of 101 games. Haase served as an assistant to Roy Williams at Kansas after graduation and then followed Williams to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Haase made news at the beginning of this season when he made a $46,000 donation to the UAB men’s and women’s basketball programs, allowing student-athletes to receive full cost-of-attendance stipends. He signed his six-year contract with UAB after last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance. It includes a $500,000 buyout. The buyout would have dropped to $350,000 after next season.