In February 1956, the University of Chicago hired Hass as the replacement to retiring athletic director T. Nelson Metcalf.[11] In May 1956, the University of Chicago faculty reacted negatively to overtures of renewing sponsorship of football on campus. Chancellor Lawrence Kimpton told Hass, "It is always difficult to interpret a faculty action," and predicted that the sport would soon return.[12] In 1959, Hass defended the "sport" of tiddlywinks by stating that its "considerable hazards" included "split thumbnails, flying winks which threaten players and spectators alike."[13]
In 1963, Hass oversaw the reinstatement of football at Chicago at the club level,[14] and he became its first head coach since a university administration hostile to the sport had discontinued it in 1939.[15] The return of football was not universally embraced by the student body, and in the inaugural season, 200 students protested in the middle of Stagg Field, which delayed the game and resulted in four arrests.[16] Later in the decade, however, 1,100 students petitioned the administration for the promotion of Chicago football to the varsity level. The faculty administration and board of trustees approved the move and the team became a member of the non-scholarship Division III in 1969.[16]
He retired as football coach, golf coach, professor, and the Department of Physical Education chairman in the spring of 1976. Former high school football mentor Bob Lombardi succeeded him as head coach.[17] Hass's final record at Chicago was 11–48–1.[18] While at Chicago, he was credited with rebuilding the athletic department, "which had declined to almost nothing" prior to his arrival.[8]
