Hoffenheim name Nagelsmann as Stevens' successor
Deutsche Welle
In what must be a first for the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim have named two new head coaches in the space of 24 hours. Huub Stevens is to be followed by the league's youngest-ever Bundesliga coach.
When reporters learned of a press conference to unveil Hoffenheim's new head coach on Tuesday, they probably were only expecting to hear from the 61-year-old Stevens, who had been named as the successor to the sacked Markus Gisdol on Monday. Sporting director Alexander Rosen, though, had something of a rabbit up his sleeve.
Before introducing Stevens, whose contract runs through the end of the current season, Rosen announced that the Dutchman's successor had already been found. Steven is to be succeeded on July 1 by Julian Nagelsmann, the coach of Hoffenheim's under-19 team.
Not only is the decision unusual, coming just a day after Steven's appointment was announced, but many will see it as risky, as Nagelsmann will be just 28 years old when he takes the post, and he is still working on the coaching badges needed to take charge of a Bundesliga club. Assuming Stevens manages to keep Hoffenheim - who are currently in second-last place - in the Bundesliga, Nagelsmann would become the youngest head coach in the league's history.
'Courageous' decision
Speaking to reporters, Rosen described the club's decision to appoint Nagelsmann, whom he described as one of the brightest young coaching talents in German football, not as risky, but rather as "courageous."
"We are convinced about his quality and his authority," Rosen said.
Nagelsmann did not appear at the press conference, but issued a statement saying that he "was looking forward to this exciting task" and that was thankful to the club for entrusting him with this opportunity.
Meet Hoffenheim's Julian Nagelsmann: the youngest coach in Bundesliga history
Deutsche Welle
Prodigious coach Julian Nagelsmann is more in line with Hoffenheim's strategic planning, writes DW's Ross Dunbar who interviewed the 28-year-old when he was last involved with the first-team as co-trainer in 2013.
From his hotel in Portugal during Hoffenheim's winter training camp, Julian Nagelsmann spoke with enthusiasm about the task ahead. Hoffenheim were third-bottom of the Bundesliga in January 2013 when the club needed inspiration.
Nagelsmann, then just 25, was named co-trainer - largely the number two - with Franz Kramer. Culminating in a nail-biting final day win at Borussia Dortmund, the pair kept Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga by the very smallest of margins.
Naglesmann breezed through his coaching badges with aid of a glowing reference from Thomas Tuchel, the current boss of Borussia Dortmund, who he worked with briefly at FC Augsburg. His playing career with cut short when he sustained a knee injury during an U19 match against Eintracht Frankfurt that led to two years of injury hell.
After hanging up his boots, he went into the academic world. He managed just four semesters studying Business Administration before defecting to a Sport Science degree, in which he now holds a Bachelor's Degree. Nagelsmann has moved up the ladder, coaching from U16 to U19 level with the side from the southwest.
Backed by Tuchel
"Coaching is more enjoyable than playing,” he insisted robustly in an interview published on A Football Report in 2013. "As a player you just go and train – but as a coach or a trainer you think what you can do to improve the team, or specific parts of the game. You will do that on the field and after the training: you say that was the right or the wrong way.
“My philosophy is to attack the opponents near their own goal because your own way to the goal is not as along, if you get the ball higher up," he explained. “I like the way Villarreal play and they have a great way of coaching young players. I also like FC Barcelona and Arsenal, as well as, the work of Arsene Wenger.
"They play very good football. I think the Spanish way is the philosophy is similar to mines and in Spain they are very good at coaching young players for the team. I haven't seen it much with Villarreal but it is interesting to see how they train and it is very good for these young players."
With two more years of coaching the U19s under his belt, leading them to the German championship in 2013, the appointment of Nagelsmann shows more long-term thinking from sporting director Alexander Rosen. Having turned down a move to Bayern Munich this summer, his promotion to the first-team was a matter of when, not if.
Hoffenheim are moving towards a model of harnessing its own talents from the academy, and so promoting from within ahead of next season is economically sound management. Those in the current U19 side will be thrilled with the door as open as ever for a spot in the Bundesliga.
