The Remarkable Coaching Career of Frank Schmidt: From Local Patriot to Bundesliga Promotions

He is more of a pragmatist, rarely gets carried away by euphoria. But after his 591st game on the Heidenheim bench, Schmidt didn’t last. “I’m happy, I have to congratulate the team,” he said after the 4-2 win over Bremen.

It came together magically. You can almost think that it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. In addition to the very first win in the Bundesliga, coach Schmidt was also applauded in Heidenheim on his private anniversary. Sixteen years in a row with one team!

If this is the first time you hear about the guy with the graying beard, know that as a local patriot he used to be the captain of Heidenheimer SB, the predecessor of today’s club. When he ended his career in 2007, he immediately started training and was made Dieter Märkle’s assistant at A. But he was soon fired and management pointed to the 33-year-old Schmidt. At that time, hardly anyone would have thought that it would last sixteen long years. And that he will experience four procedures with modest Heidenheim, from the fifth league to the first.

“This goes beyond all the limits we could have imagined,” Schmidt confessed this spring after moving to Germany’s top 18 teams. A coaching novice has become a respected coach, on the threshold of fifty he is talking about a chance at a better address. However, try mentioning it in a city of 50,000 people east of Stuttgart, where Schmidt is one of the respected citizens. When they half-jokingly said in front of him that they would build a statue of him, he refused. “People would pee on her,” he said in all seriousness.

He had the same stony expression when the players sprinkled him with beer in the post-match press conference after the promotion nervousness in Regensburg in May (3:2 with the winning goal in the 99th minute). “Sorry,” he apologized to reporters. “Holt we’re going to train for another week, I don’t care.”

It probably won’t surprise you that when boss Holger Sannwald generously offered him an indefinite contract after his historic promotion to the Bundesliga, which is unique in the football world, Schmidt shook his head. “Typical Frank,” Sannwald smiled.

At first it rubbed off among the elite. The rookie also had a bit of bad luck, for example he blew a two-goal lead against Hoffenheim. “With a bit of exaggeration, I wonder if he can ever win at all,” commented expert David Jarolím in his regular Echo Bundesliga commentary on Sport.cz.

A week later, however, Schmidt’s boys impressed with a 2-2 draw in Dortmund and won their first ever victory in a shootout with Bremen at the fourth attempt. “Sometimes it’s a big wilderness, but the most important thing is the points. I told the guys that if we can use our potential, the wins will keep coming,” explained Schmidt as he entered the 17th year of his career. How many more will he add?

2023-09-19 13:52:47
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