The stadium was built 59 years ago in 1966 and is named after Theodore "Spud" Harder, a former coach of the Gauchos' football team.

The stadium hosted Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers in January 1967 for their practices in the week ahead of the first Super Bowl.

In total, the women's program has held 4 NCAA Tournament matches at Harder Stadium, bringing such opponents as the Wisconsin Badgers, Stanford Cardinal, and Hartford Hawks.

They had planned to throw it into the Pacific Ocean (about 1/3 mile away), but were stopped by a combination of law enforcement down the block and tiring out from the weight of the goal.

This time the group succeeded in their quest, throwing the soccer goal off of a cliff at the beginning of the 6600 block of Del Playa Drive.

On September 24, 2010, the UCSB gaucho fans set a record on the highest attendance at any NCAA (on campus) soccer match.

In March 2004, the San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy played a pre-season exhibition in Santa Barbara.

On June 18, 2024, it was announced that the Santa Barbara Sky of USL League One had signed a multi-year deal to bring professional soccer to the stadium.

[9] Every year, the school's Associated Students Program Board have thrown a free day-long party, known as EXTRAVAGANZA, at Harder Stadium.

Previous bands to have played at the festival include Fleetwood Mac, The Grateful Dead, Sublime, No Doubt, Jack Johnson, T.I., Run-D.M.C., Coolio, Busta Rhymes, The Black Eyed Peas, Jane's Addiction, MxPx, Social Distortion, Eve 6, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, Ludacris, Nas, Hellogoodbye, and E-40.