He got that info from Paul Breitner's controversial 1980 book Ich will kein Vorbild sein ("I don't want to be a rolemodel").
Uli's latest The Swabian Connection...... Rather dull article. Seems like he wrote it for the sake of writing a a periodic article. Not upto the lofty standard that he has set for himself.
Somewhere else I've read a similar piece recently (dunno where though), but there the author actually tied the current crop Swabian coaches together. They all had some kind of connection to the coaching staff of VfB Stuttgart youth program. Stuttgart's youth division was apparently the first place in Germany where the modern, fast paced kinda game was introduced and very successfully so. This philosophy was systematically implemented and the coaches involved have been very successful since: Rangnick was VfB youth coach from 1990-1994 and then head coach from 1999-2001. Löw was assistant coach from 1995-1996 and head coach from 1996-1998 Tuchel was youth coach in Stuttgart from 2000-2005. Klopp never coached in Stuttgart but there was also some connection, but I can't find the article anymore...maybe he made his internship there, but I think there was something else as well...not sure about Veh anymore, he also didn't coach at Stuttgart before becoming head coach in 2006, but I think there was also some connection during the mid 1990s, I might be wrong about this though (I really wish I had saved that article, it was really good)... Anyway, the article which I can't find anymore did make a lot of sense and it did also mention some other important names of people behind the scenes who are not visible to the average Bundesliga fan and who were important for the development at Stuttgart and also in connecting these coaches. Everything on top of that is mere coincidence though. I don't think that there is a trend in the Bundesliga to favor coaches from the South-West and you certainly can't throw someone like Hitzfeld or Klinsmann into one basket with the other guys, only because they're originally from Baden-Württemberg. And to then add Sammer to the mix is really stretching it...
^^^^ Benz, awesome post. Other Schwabisch coaches: Marco Kurz Uwe Rapolder (Heilobronn) Armin Veh (Augsburg) Rainer Maurer (born in Mindelheim which is part of historic Swabia) Not to mention about 4-5 coaches born in or near Mannheim which is pretty close to Schwabia. And that is just after looking at the 1.BL and 2.BL coaches this season.
Mannheim has always been really strong in soccer development. I lived there and played soccer there as a little kid. I was taught very well. Too bad that my boyhood team has fallen on tough times. SV Waldhof Mannheim. Back then Klaus Schlappner was the coach. Notable players from Mannheim: Foerster brothers Karl Heinz and Bernd, Juergen Kohler, Mauricio Gaudino, Fritz Walter, Dieter Eckstein, Diter Hecking, Christian Woerns and many more
I knew a guy named Willi Kiefer who played for them in the 1970s. He came to play for the NASL Washington Diplomats in 1980 I think. Did not last long then went back.
But Sepp Herberger, the real one, learned his soccer there, so... Other Waldhof players: Uwe Rahn, Paul Steiner, Gernot Rohr...
Thanks for mentioning them. I thought Uwe Rahn was one of them although he had his best days at Borussia Moenchengladbach [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJhbhtmmng&feature=related"]YouTube - Borussia Mönchengladbach - Real Madrid 1985 5:1 alle Tore[/ame] ^^^^ too bad Real beat BMG 4-0 in Madrid to advance two weeks later on away goals. When I lived in Seckenheim (early 80's) just outside of Mannheim Gladbach used to come and play the local club in pre-season (Landesliga). Those teams of the early 80's played really good attractive soccer. An image that is burned into my head is a black and white picture I saw of Rahn covering his forehead with his jersey. Completely blood soacked from a cut during the DFB Pokal. I believe it was during the 83/84 season. After Waldhof, Karlsruhe which is not too far from Mannheim brought up some great players (lots of them ended up at Bayern). Koeln used to bring up many talented players in the 70's & 80's. Talent for whatever reasons shows up in bunches in certain areas. Mostly it's through new ground breaking influences in coaching or through incorporating better more effective talent development strategies. Others catch one after a while until someone else moves the development ahead again.
Rohr played first for Bayern, though, as I saw later, so he should be scratched from a list of Waldhof products (still played for them of course).
According to this Waldhof site he died of a heart attack in 2010: http://www.wikiwaldhof.de/index.php?title=Willi_Kiefer
Damn, thanks for the note. He was good friends with Heinz Wirtz who used to play for Fortuna Duesseldorf. Heinz convinced him to come to the NASL but that was when the league was headed into trouble. I found a French site that had a bit more info on his overall career. Sorry to hear of his passing. Was a very nice, kind person. Gave me one of his kits when he came to dinner one night. I was a kid and getting a REAL German kit, while not the first one I got, I always appreciated!!!
Looks like Uli's latest article slipped under the radar as it was posted on a Friday (New Years eve).