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Klinsmann hired as Hertha Berlin interim manager

Three years after being fired as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, Jurgen Klinsmann has finally landed a new job.

The German legend has been hired as interim coach of Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, the club announced on Wednesday. Klinsmann is replacing Ante Covic, and will be in charge through the rest of the current Bundesliga season.

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Klinsmann hasn’t coached since being fired from his job in charge of the USMNT after the team lost its first two World Cup qualifiers in 2016, a start that ultimately led to the Americans missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Klinsmann has been linked to a variety of jobs in the years since leaving the USMNT, most recently the Ecuadorian national team, but he will instead return to the Bundesliga for the first time since a failed stint in charge of Bayern Munich in 2008-2009.

Hertha Berlin currently sits in 15th place in the Bundesliga standings, narrowly above the relegation playoff spot currently occupied by Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Klinsmann’s first match in charge comes on Saturday at home against Borussia Dortmund.

Comments

  1. I neither loved or hated JK. That being said he fell into the same trap that other coaches have fallen into, and which USSF keeps perpetuating….Coaching for a 2nd cycle. Very, Very few coaches have succeeded for 2 full cycles. They’ve either become married to players or they seem to lose the locker-room.
    – Hopefully USSF has finally learned their lesson and will find a new coach after the 2022 cycle. And hopefully it’ll be a more extensive search than what we went through this last time around.

    Reply
    • I think that is right that keeping a coach for 2 cycles is folly. The coach almost always errs either 1) on the side of showing solidarity with the players who did well in the first cycle, or 2) starts shedding players looking for new ones who might be better.

      The first ends up with some players who are no longer as good as they once were and the second ends up alienating players who feel the coach is not supportive so do not trust the coach. It is a very fine eye to thread and not surprisingly very few can get it right.

      In the US college sports system, coaches can largely escape that tension as seniors leave and freshmen come in, all players knows they have at most 4 years of playing before they will leave. That may be a reason college coaches tend to stay with the same team much longer than professional coaches.

      Reply
  2. “Three years after being fired as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, Jurgen Klinsmann has finally landed a new job.” To put this in context, I believe that when Klinsmann was fired the USSF was still responsible for almost 2 years of payments,so USSF gave him a lump sum of $3.35 million. He has an estimated net worth of $16 million. So, it’s not like he needed to take a job. Similarly, Arena had no need to take the job with the Revolution. They do it for the challenge and the love of the game, so it’s not like they “finally landed a new job.”

    Reply
    • I don’t think anyone thought JK was starving, or looking for a job all that much. Still, it must sting his ego a bit that teams were not flooding him with offers that were too good to turn down. Taking an interim coaching spot of a team close to the relegation zone is pretty far down from what I expect his ego would be happy with.

      Reply

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