Haas steps down as Wooster High football coach
After nine seasons, Wooster High football coach Doug Hass, right, announced his resignation Thursday. Haas compiled a 59-36 record over nine seasons leading the Generals, including 8-2 this past fall after getting a late start to practices due to the pandemic, and his teams won or shared six OCC titles and reached the playoffs five times.
Doug Haas still wants to lead young people, just in a different way than he’s done for about the past quarter century.
Haas informed his Wooster High School football team via a Zoom call Jan. 14 that he’s stepping down as head varsity coach. Haas compiled a 59-36 record over nine seasons leading the Generals, including 8-2 this past fall after getting a late start to practices due to the pandemic.
Haas’ teams won or shared six OCC titles and reached the playoffs five times. He has a 103-84 overall record, including 3-year stops at Cloverleaf, Triway and Rittman.
Haas called his tenure leading the Generals “awesome” and labeled it an “excruciating” decision, but he wants to pursue opportunities in educational leadership.
Specifically, he’ll work toward becoming a principal, preferably at a high school but he’s open to other levels. He currently serves as Director of the Generals’ Academy, which serves students K-12 who prefer learning in an online environment.
“This was a very hard decision, not something I took lightly at all,” Haas said. “When we went to online learning last March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was involved in some decisions on the administrative level and it turned out to be something that I really enjoyed working on.
“It kind of started my thought process about becoming a principal, which I got my license to do two years ago. Those kinds of jobs usually come open in late winter or the spring and in fairness to our football team I had to make the decision now so that our school administrators would have the necessary time to do their due diligence in searching for a new coach.”
Haas’ Generals won or shared OCC titles in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and qualified for the playoffs in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
His 59 wins at Wooster rank fourth in the 121-year program history, trailing only Bob McFarland (104-67-1, 1973-89), Mike McCreary (69-63, 1999-2011) and Gene Coleman (64-36-10, 1947-57).
When asked to reflect on his tenure at Wooster, Haas said, "C'mon, you're going to make me get emotional.
“It’s been awesome,” Haas said after a long pause. “There’s really no other word I could use to describe what it’s been like to be the coach here.
“Even back in the early years, the players and coaches and people that I had the good fortune to get to know because of the position I was in have been awesome. I’m proud of the win-loss record, but prouder of the kids and what they’ve been able to do and the type of young men they've become.”
Wooster athletic director Joe Rubino has worked with Haas as a parent, assistant coach and administrator and said he’ll be “sorely missed."
“My son Nick (class of 2019) played for Doug and my daughter Adrianna, who’s a senior, helped the team with equipment starting when she was about 9,” Rubino said. “She wanted to help out and he found a role for her. I’m extremely grateful for everything Doug did for my kids.
“It’s also been great to work with him as an assistant coach and then athletic director and see how much he cares about our student-athletes. He’s at peace with the decision and I’m happy for him.”
Haas’ lone playoff win came in 2014, when Marquise Blair, now a Seattle Seahawks safety, led the way with five touchdowns in a 35-21 win over Hamilton Township at Follis Field. It was the program’s first and only postseason win since the 1986 Final Four team.
Wooster is one of the state’s smallest Div. II schools and Rubino called it a “gauntlet” to compete in that division.
“Doug got us to the point where every year we were at the top or near it in the OCC and challenging to make the playoffs,” Rubino said. “Playing in Div. II is extremely difficult, but that never slowed him down. He never used it as an excuse and was constantly trying to get us better and play tough competition (in non-league games).”
A Colorado native and graduate of Ohio Wesleyan, Haas originally moved to the area in the mid-1990s to become an assistant at The College of Wooster under former head coach Jim Barnes. He was hired at Wooster out of a pool of 40 applicants in 2012 after successful stints at Rittman, Triway and Cloverleaf.
Haas described it as “a leap of faith” to hang up his whistle without a specific principal job already offered to him, or even in the works.
“I can honestly say that I bleed Blue and Gold and would love to stay in the Wooster City Schools District,” said Haas, whose wife, Heidi, is the WHS director of student services. The couple has children ages 14, 12 and 7. “I want the football team to continue to keep getting better.
“I hope I can get a (principals) job in the Wooster district, but don’t want to paint the picture at all that something has been promised to me. We’ll have to see what happens.”
Rubino said the district is working on plans to finalize its search committee to find a new football coach. The Generals’ success and community support, coupled with recent upgrades to the Follis Field stadium, locker rooms and workout room should make it a highly coveted position.
“I can’t give a timeline at this point, but it has our highest attention to make sure we bring in the best person possible for the job,” Rubino said.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronDorksen.