Haase on philosophy, start to Stanford tenure

Cardinal Sports Report sat down with new Stanford men's basketball coach Jerod Haase earlier this week to discuss his first few months on the job and his philosophy and approach to recruiting.

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Jerod Haase's coaching staff at Stanford does not include a former Cardinal player - but not for lack of consideration. Haase hoped to bring a Stanford alum on board and had conversations about doing so, but he ended up going a different direction.

"I visited with a variety of former Stanford players for job openings," Haase said. "The ultimate goal when hiring a staff was to put the best possible staff together for me and the program to achieve as much success as we possibly can have. If I thought there was a situation where it was coming down to a Stanford player and somebody else and it was a near equal situation in my mind, I would have gone with the Stanford player, because I did want that element on my staff. But as I put it all together and put the pieces together, this is kind of how it shook out.

"I do think that the former players I've talked to, while that would have been a nice (element to have) on the staff, that doesn't change their support or their commitment to the program."

And just because there isn't a former Cardinal hoops presence on staff does not mean that the program's past won't influence its present. Haase and his staff have been proactive about reaching out to former players. Haase estimates he's spoken with at least a couple dozen in the months he's been on the job. Other staff members have had numerous conversations as well.

"Selfishly I'm just trying to learn the Stanford culture and the Stanford way and what those former players have to offer in their opinions and thoughts," Haase said.

"For me it is extremely important for the former players to be a part of the program. But, again, one of the things we have to do is get a comfort level where they feel excited and comfort coming back, and that takes a little bit of time."

Thus far, however, the former players who have connected with Haase and his assistants have been receptive to the new staff's message.

"I think the theme has been that they're excited to contribute and be a part of growing the program back to where they want it," Haase said. "Everybody has been very, very supportive and excited about helping any way they can."

Recruiting to a university like Stanford can sometimes be a balancing act for the institution's athletic programs. Coaches have to keep up with the times, in which offers are extended earlier and earlier in many sports, while also considering Stanford's rigorous admissions process. Offer too early and you might invest time and resources into a high school student whose academic profiles ends up falling short of Stanford's requirements. Offer too late, however, and a top recruit might not give the school a fair shake.

What's Haase's approach?

"Well, we're trying to do a good job No. 1 of evaluating players, and that means both academically and athletically," Haase said. "This is a delicate process at Stanford. I'd be lying to say if I knew every detail about admission and how this process works, but I do feel like I have a pretty good grasp of it. The coaches, the admissions office, the administration here has been unbelievably supportive and informative with the whole situation. I do want to be very aggressive in recruiting and going after kids, whether it's scholarship offers or phone calls or how we go and evaluate them. We're going to be as aggressive as possible to try to get elite level student-athletes here."

Some evidence of that approach has already surfaced with reports of offers to both 2017 and 2018 prospects, as well as comments from recruits, who note the involvement of the Cardinal's entire staff in the process. (Rather than, say, connecting with only one assistant coach.)

Those recruiting efforts have resulted numerous conversations with top prospects, which reinforced to Haase the power of the Stanford name.

"I knew the Stanford brand was strong," Haase said. "But I didn't realize for the student-athlete that achieves at a high level both academically and athletically, the Stanford brand is second to none. For the kid who does well in school and is a good basketball player, I feel like every call we've made has been unbelievably receptive to that brand."

Stanford doesn't have a concrete number of scholarships available for the 2017 recruiting class, nor are the Cardinal tied to pursuing players at only certain positions.

"We're kind of looking at the next two years as a whole," Haase said. "We're sitting here with roughly six-to-seven scholarships over the next two years. In this next class I think we do want to address guard play and some shooting and some of those holes that are going to occur with graduation from the previous class. But the overall talent level and bringing people in that are going to add to the culture of the program is what we're looking for. Outside a little bit of perimeter play, we're not married to the idea that we have to have any one piece. We're looking at it comprehensively, and I think we're in a good spot right now with a lot of different kids."

The Cardinal happens to be hosting a few of their top recruiting targets this weekend. NCAA rules prevent Haase from discussing specific high school prospects, but he noted that Stanford would emphasize the opportunities available on and off the hardwood.

"I think the message is very clear that at Stanford we're selling the recruits on the idea that you can be at the elite academic institution in the country and have an opportunity to play for championships," Haase said. "We believe that on the basketball side of things we're going to compete at the highest level in the Pac-12, and if you're doing that you're also competing at the highest level in the country."