Rob Ehsan

Rob Ehsan joined the Stanford program in 2021, and begins his third season on The Farm in 2023-24.

The Cardinal won 14 games in 2022-23 and closed the season as one of the top offensive programs in the country. The Cardinal downed a top-five opponent for the second consecutive year and ended the season with a top-25 offense nationally. James Keefe was Stanford’s third straight Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Brandon Angel and Michael Jones were named Academic All-Americans. Spencer Jones was an All-Pac-12 forward for the second season in a row.
 
The streak of elite recruiting continued for the program, with Stanford signing Andrej Stojakovic, the team’s third McDonald’s All-American in four years, and Kanaan Carlyle, a top-40 signee. The top-tier class is Stanford’s first with two top-40 recruits since 2006 (Brook & Robin Lopez).
 
Stanford won 16 games in Ehsan's first season at Stanford, including the program’s first win over an AP top-five opponent since 2007 and its first over a top-25 team on the road since 2014. Harrison Ingram was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year – Stanford’s first since 2000 – while Spencer Jones blossomed into an All-Pac-12 conference forward. Sam Beskind was named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the program’s third honoree in the last five seasons.

Ehsan made his way to Stanford following a four-year stint as the head coach at UAB, where his teams averaged 19 wins a season at 76-57 overall, posting a winning record each year. He developed numerous All-Conference USA selections, including William Lee, Chris Cokley and Jalen Benjamin. At the time of his hire in Birmingham, Ehsan was one of the five youngest Division I coaches in the country, and his 76 wins over four years ranked 16th among all coaches hired during the same time period.
 
The 2019-20 UAB team went 19-13 during the COVID-shortened season, finishing one win shy of the program’s third-straight 20-win campaign. The Blazers’ slate included four consecutive conference road wins, which tied the team record, and led Conference USA with the best record away from home.
 
The team also picked up the program’s second-consecutive NCAA Public Recognition Award for APR under Ehsan, marking the only two times in UAB history the accolade was achieved, and partnered with the Mike Slive Foundation for the #BlockCancer campaign, which raised money for prostate cancer research.

Ehsan’s tenure as head coach at UAB included a plethora of marquee victories, including a win over Memphis, 71-56, on Nov. 30, 2017 and a win at Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 7, 2016, which snapped their 31-game home win streak. He won 62.5 percent of games in the C-USA Tournament, which ranks second-best all-time at UAB.
 
He spent four years as an assistant coach in Birmingham under Jerod Haase, the final two of which as associate head coach. Ehsan was part of Haase’s staff that advanced to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, and went to the postseason a total of four times in eight years while at UAB.
 
Highlights during his time under Haase include a 26-win season in 2016-17, the winningest in program history, and a victory over then-No. 16 North Carolina in 2013. Ehsan led the recruiting efforts for William Lee, who is the highest-rated signee in the Blazers’ history.
 
He previously spent time as an assistant at Virginia Tech (2011-12) under Seth Greenberg and at Maryland (2007-11) under Gary Williams. At the time of his hire with the Terrapins, Ehsan was the youngest assistant coach in the ACC (26). He went to three NCAA Tournaments and two NITs at Maryland, and won the ACC regular season championship in 2010. He recruited and coached ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez, who went on to win the Bob Cousy Award and was selected 23rd overall in the 2010 NBA Draft.
 
In-between his time at UAB and Stanford, Ehsan founded and led the Graduate Assistant Leadership Academy by TopConnect. The Academy is an exclusive program for 22 of the best graduate assistants (men’s and women’s) in the country, teaching skills to prepare them for careers in coaching. He also worked for the Pac-12 Network as a color and studio analyst.
 
Ehsan is a 2005 graduate of UC Davis, where he was a teammate of assistant coach Jesse Pruitt.  He later received an MBA from Maryland.
 
A native of Sacramento, Ehsan is married to the former Lindsey Rattray. They have one daughter, Katelyn, and two sons, Davis and Robert Ryder.