Another German Bowl win could cement Jordan Neuman as the best coach in Europe

| American Football | 10/09/2021

When German Bowl XLII kicks off on Saturday, it will be the first ever championship appearance for Dresden Monarchs head coach Ulrich Dauber. Like most coaches, it has been a long, hard road to get to this point, with Saturday being a rare shot at the pinnacle of his profession and the immortality that comes with it.

For Jordan Neuman, it is simply… been there, done that, time to do it again.

The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns head coach has had one of the most impressive starts to a European coaching career in recent memory and Saturday will simply be the latest chapter. Win or lose, his status as one of the best on the continent will not be up for debate.

Since taking over for the legendary Siegrfried Gehrke in 2017, Neuman has posted a perfect 52-0 regular season record at the helm in Schwäbisch Hall. In fact, he has only lost one game during that span, the last German Bowl championship played back in 2019. With back-to-back titles under his belt in 2017 and 2018, a third on Saturday would be further proof of his continued dominance.

The 38-year-old native of Fort Worth, Texas first arrived in Europe back in 2005 fresh out of McMurry University, ready to serve as quarterback of the Unicorns. He did that admirably, but his true calling as a coach was first displayed in Austria, where he served as offensive coordinator for the Vienna Vikings from 2011 to 2013, winning back-to-back Austrian titles the last two seasons and a Eurobowl in 2013.

In 2014, he was quarterback coach for the German National Team when they claimed the European title and returned to the Unicorns as OC, helping them to three straight German Bowl appearances and a Eurobowl final in 2015. Winning the big one seemed elusive at that time, but since taking over in 2017, it’s been almost automatic for Neuman and he already has a CEFL Bowl trophy from this season to pad his resume.

There are few who would dismiss Neuman’s dominance over the last five years, but like so many of the great ones, his early accomplishments haven’t been praised nearly enough. While grey-haired coaches struggle unsuccessfully for years to climb the mountaintop of German football, Neuman has made it his home and the view remains incredible.

As the football landscape in Europe shifts to accommodate the new ELF, there are those who believe the new powers and coaches have already claimed supremacy in Europe. That hasn’t happened quite yet. If Schwäbisch Hall can win again on Saturday, there is little question who the reigning power is.

Football in Europe is Jordan Neuman’s world. We are all just living in it.

Watch German Bowl XLII live on AFI.tv. Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns vs Dresden Monarchs, Oct. 9, 18:00 CET (6 pm, 12 noon ET).

J.C. Abbott is a student at the University of British Columbia and amateur football coach in Vancouver, Canada. A CFL writer for 3DownNation, his love of travel has been the root of his fascination with the global game.