David Wagner’s career resume is impressive: As a player, he played for Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz 05, Schalke 04, Waldhof Mannheim and Darmstadt 98.
You were in Mainz for four years, until the summer of 1995, and you were successful as a striker – and as a teammate for Jürgen Klopp.
David Wagner: I also met my wife there. But there I also had to endure a nine-month layoff due to a broken tibia and fibula.
How did you come to Schalke then?
David Wagner: Again, Hubert Neu is the key person. He had already gone to Schalke in 1993 and worked there as an assistant coach – for head coach Jörg Berger! He was looking for a player type like me again. That’s how it was at Schalke in 1995.
And Berger was released there too, in October 1996. Crazy and stupid, right?
David Wagner: The professional business is just that fast-paced. I stayed. Huub Stevens gave me playing times. And that’s how I was able to make my contribution to winning the 1997 UEFA Cup – albeit unfortunately only from the bench in the final against Inter Milan in San Siro. Still, I stayed realistic. I knew about my role as a substitute. That’s why I didn’t accept Rudi Assauer’s new contract offer after the big triumph, which didn’t want to let any Euro heroes go.
And you’re with FC Gütersloh. To Guetersloh! Sorry, dear residents of Gütersloh.
David Wagner: That was sportingly understandable at the time and rightly so. The club was solvent and twice played for promotion to the Bundesliga. And there I was seeded in the storm and played a lot. Nobody expected us to be relegated in 1999, not even in the club.
Was it basically going pro as a player?
David Wagner: I went to the Waldhof in 1999 because I wanted to stay in the second division. That was my only mistake. I couldn’t get there with the head coach at the time, Uwe Rapolder, and I left again in October. The final three years at 98 in the 3rd division were then forgiving. And then, at 31, I had new plans. That’s why in the summer of 2002 I turned down a follow-up contract as an assistant coach with Lilien.
You wanted to be a teacher – and you became one!
David Wagner: Biology and Sport, for high schools. I started studying at the TU Darmstadt in 2002 and graduated in 2007. Because I knew I had to do something new and earn money! Basically, I was out of the pro business.
Then what happened?
David Wagner: I did my football teaching license at the sports university in Cologne. And then came the call from Hoffenheim, who were just getting started. I coached the U17s and U19s there between 2007 and 2009. Then Ralf Rangnick and then sports director Bernhard Peters came up with the idea that I no longer fit into the youth concept. And I was out, this time through outside influence, so to speak.
But your legal clerkship from 2009 to 2011 was followed by your return to professional business?
David Wagner: Yes. 2011. Michael Zorc, the sports director at the time, brought me to Dortmund as head coach of the second team. We’ve been promoted to the 3rd league, the “big” BVB won the trophy in 2011 and the double in 2012 under head coach Jürgen Klopp.
And then everything happened quickly: 4 years BVB. The call to England and 4 years of Premier League. Then Schalke. And then the end.
David Wagner: When “Kloppo” left in 2015 and Thomas Tuchel came, I was again confronted with an upheaval. The youth and youth department at BVB put more emphasis on the U19s instead of the U23s, which made me want to change. When the offer from Huddersfield Town came through a contact from Hoffenheim’s days, who were looking for a young German coach, I didn’t hesitate for long.
The aim was not to be relegated from the second English division, the so-called EFL Championship, in the 2015/16 season.
David Wagner: Yes. And we got promoted to the Premier League a year later. In my opinion, the achievement of holding the class in 2017/18 was even greater. As expected, the 2018/19 season was difficult. I was released in January 2019, but my successor was also unsuccessful and could not prevent relegation.
