By Sue Moore
“My first passion is teaching and football is an extension of that in the classroom,” said Terry Haas. He recently was honored as one of 13 coaches statewide selected for the Michigan High School Football Association Coaches Hall of Fame in 2016.
“It’s an honor for the whole community and I accept the award on behalf of the all of our players and coaches,” Haas said. “It’s about having good kids, developing rapport with them, giving them respect, earning their respect, and having high expectations. In Schoolcraft we expect our kids to be multi-sport athletes and good citizens. It’s a pretty special honor.”
His record of coaching speaks for itself. While the head coach at Schoolcraft, his teams have won four conference championships in three different conferences (St. Joe Valley, KVA, SAC). He has two varsity undefeated regular seasons in 2012 and 2015. As junior varsity coach, Haas experienced 13 undefeated seasons. From 1988-2001, his teams compiled a record of 114 wins, two losses, and one tie. Terry began coaching in Schoolcraft in 1982, the same year that Larry Ledlow became the head football coach of Schoolcraft. Ledlow was similarly honored by the football coaches association in 1996.
Overall, Haas has coached football for 36 years with 273 wins, 61 losses, 2 ties. He began his career with the Delton-Kellogg school system from which he was a graduate. He moved to coach in Comstock in 1981 and Schoolcraft in 1982. He had a year’s hiatus with the Eagles when he took a position as a graduate assistant at Ohio State University while getting his master’s degree, then returned to Schoolcraft to coach and teach. His undergraduate degree is from Western Michigan University. He spent two years at Kalamazoo College playing varsity football his freshman and sophomore years.