Sebastian Hoeneß on being the Bundesliga's "coolest" coach, an emotional 15 months and VfB Stuttgart's "wild" DNA
Sebastian Hoeneß arrived at a VfB Stuttgart side heading for relegation. After surviving their play-off, he not only kept them safe but followed it up with the club's best-ever Bundesliga points haul. Despite the astonishing ascent, the 42-year-old tells bundesliga.com he always knew it was possible, and previews what could come next...
bundesliga.com: What is the DNA of VfB Stuttgart in your opinion?
Sebastian Hoeneß: “I think from a historical point of view Stuttgart is known for implementing young players and having talented players. I think we have that again, the desire to get a young talented player from the academy to the first team. That is something we are working on.”
bundesliga.com: Stuttgart are still the club with the most titles in youth football. Why is that? What does the club do better than the others?
Hoeneß: “I think that the groundwork for this was laid many years ago, because people were already thinking [about youth football] a bit more professionally and working toward that. It comes in waves and it also depends on the age groups you get, on the way you look at things, how you scout and then ultimately on how you train and develop youngsters. For that you need good coaches, good people who are totally committed to the cause and it seems that VfB has done things right time and time again in recent years and decades.”
bundesliga.com: You were yourself a youth player at Stuttgart, how do you look back on that?
Hoeneß: “Yes, I remember it very fondly, even though it was a long time ago now. I became German champion here in the U19s. That was the last game I played for VfB before I moved to Berlin with my family. I played for VfB for three years and that was a beautiful time. It was wonderful and for me as a young, ambitious player it was exactly the right step to come from a small club to VfB. It was a great honour for me back then and of course, I really developed here. So, I have very, very positive and fond memories of my time back then.”
bundesliga.com: 'Young and wild' is Stuttgart’s motto. Does your 2023/24 team reflect that?
Hoeneß: “Yes. I wouldn’t necessarily say 'wild' as a coach, but of course, looking back, the journey we took was definitely 'wild'. We were also definitely young, that is a fact. For sure the second youngest team in the league, if not the youngest. From that point of view, the motto fits our last season.”
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bundesliga.com: What does an attacking, ‘wild’ approach look like?
Hoeneß: “I like to see wild moments, and players to be liberated to a certain extent and make their own decisions in the right moments and let their creativity run free. It's about having a certain structure, but of course it's also very much about attitude and mentality. All these aspects are important.
“We’ve managed to control many phases of the game with the ball and not just by keeping the ball, but also by attacking at the right moment. That's also reflected in the number of goals we scored, and yet we were also very courageous in the way we played without the ball. We defended very high, regardless of whether we were playing away, regardless of who we were playing against, we always tried to get the ball back quickly. I think we did that very often throughout the year and that ultimately led to us being very successful.”
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bundesliga.com: How emotional has your time at Stuttgart been so far: from a relegation place to the Champions League in 15 months, yet you always seem cool and calm in the dugout?
Hoeneß: “My whole time here triggers incredible emotions. It all started with the first game we had in Nuremberg [1-0 win]. It was a cup game just two days after I started. Three or four days later we travelled to Bochum for a very unpleasant but absolutely groundbreaking game [3-2 win]. From one side I could feel the pressure, but on the other side I had an incredible amount of joyful anticipation because I immediately had the feeling that I was in the right place. I immediately felt that the team could achieve more than what it had shown already. That is also one big reason why I wanted to come here, even though it seemed hopeless to a lot of people. Then the season ended with two play-off games, where the pressure could not have been higher. The season ended with the feeling of ‘we made it’ and that naturally triggered a lot of emotion in me too.
“Last year was incredible, I think we played a lot of good games, won an incredible number of games and in the end we rewarded ourselves with a new club points record. All of this came with a lot of beautiful matches, but also successful games against big teams. Successes that we celebrated together. That is actually the best thing about my job to be honest. To be able to celebrate these moments together, to know that we’ve prepared for them, and that we’ve been able to beat supposedly stronger teams together.”
bundesliga.com: Last season saw a lot of supporters returning to Stuttgart games and rediscovering their passion for the club, how did that feel?
Hoeneß: “That’s what I’ve been told and it makes me really happy and also proud. Of course, I knew VfB from the time my dad [Dieter Hoeneß] was working here and from when I was a youth team player. I already knew to a certain extent the size of the club, but I couldn't have imagined the potential that’s been unleashed. To get that back from the fans, from the people who really carry the club in their hearts, no matter where you are, that's enormous. It is something really special to work at a club like this.”
bundesliga.com: What did your father think of you becoming head coach at his old club?
Hoeneß: “For the both of us it quickly became clear that this was a big chance I had to take. If things were to work out, it could explode, and that’s what happened. If I were to take the job incredible things were possible and my father knew that better than anyone else. That is why he was positive from the beginning. Of course, it was my own decision, but he reinforced it.”
bundesliga.com: Your words over the stadium microphone to the fans on Matchday 34 "Bloody hell, we're playing Champions League" became almost legendary…
Hoeneß: “I can definitely say that the words came from my heart. I didn’t think about it a lot before that and I also didn’t think about it a lot before going to meet the fans. You said before that I appear cool and calm, but I also have a lot of emotions and feelings inside my heart. For me these things have to be authentic. I couldn’t put on an act or prepare for it, it just came out and it was what I wanted to say.”
bundesliga.com: Do you think your unagitated, often cool and calm personality has helped your popularity?
Hoeneß: “Perhaps, but not scripted. I don't have to somehow consciously say ‘okay, I'm going into this mode now’. This is who I am, it has to work for me. I think my players are the same. There isn’t any conscious decision being made.”
bundesliga.com: How difficult will it be to build on the success of last season?
Hoeneß: “I don’t know if we have to focus on that. I think we should position ourselves again towards goals that we set beforehand and that are more about the way we want to deal with each other, how we want to work together, it's about how we want to be perceived. About what kind of football we want to play on the pitch. The fans at home should have the feeling that we are giving our all.
“I believe that if you can manage that, if you achieve your goals, then you've laid the foundations for achieving extraordinary things again. However, to be guided by what happened last year in terms of results or the league table - you can't win much like that and I don’t think like that. We now have completely different challenges, expectations are a little higher, we have lost key players, these are the challenges we now have to overcome.
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“We have to communicate well as a club. We have to try to be perceived as credible again and still exude a certain humility, but to enjoy the way we play football. Those are the things that are important and if it means that we finish in a good position in the table again, and get lots of points, then good. In the end, that's what it's all about, but you can't always plan that on the drawing board. I want to be successful, but I think the chance is greater if you first set yourself other goals that you can plan and control properly, that's what we're going to do.”
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