Hannes Wolf's Borussia Dortmund Departure Opens Door for Improvement

When news broke on Tuesday evening that Borussia Dortmund had released successful under-19 coach Hannes Wolf from his contract, many fans would have taken it with mixed feelings.

The 35-year-old received the opportunity of his lifetime with VfB Stuttgart offering him his first head-coaching job at the professional senior level.

The Swabians may only play in 2. Bundesliga after a catastrophic season saw them drop down from the German top flight for the first time since 1975, but they remain one of the country's biggest clubs—think Newcastle United for an apt comparison.

The Black and Yellows' decision-makers did the right thing in allowing Wolf to pursue his goal, with sporting director Michael Zorc telling the club's official website: "Hannes has done great work at BVB and helped to develop a lot of young talents. We owe him a big thank-you! We could not and would not deny him the career opportunity that has now come his way."

On the other hand, however, letting go of a highly decorated coach during the season can't be ideal, especially in the fragile environment that is youth football.

Wolf will always be tied with the rejuvenation of the club's academy, with the Bochum-born coach winning three consecutive German championships with the under-17 and under-19 teams since 2014.

Following the club's financial crisis in the middle of the noughties, Dortmund couldn't allow themselves to properly fund the youth sector, which resulted in a veritable rough patch in terms of performances.

Apart from the 2008/09 season, in which a team led by players such as Mario Gotze, Tolgay Arslan (now at Besiktas) and Daniel Ginczek—who Wolf will coach at Stuttgart—won the Bundesliga's western conference, results in the most important age group were downright appalling for a club of Dortmund's size.

Under head coaches Jorg Behnert, Sascha Eickel and Marc-Patrick Meister, the Black and Yellows' under-19 team only once managed a top-four finish until Wolf moved up in 2015 with most of his under-17 team that had won consecutive championships.

What followed was a dominant campaign as Dortmund finished five points ahead of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen in the western conference and claimed their first under-19 Bundesliga championship since 1998, with the team beating 1899 Hoffenheim 5-3 away from home in the final.

This accomplishment is especially impressive considering Wolf had to make do without his two best players for large portions of the season, as Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic moved up to the senior team on a regular basis at the start of the second half of the campaign.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Those two won't remain the only academy products Wolf has had a major influence on to debut for the Bundesliga team for long, with talents such as Dzenis Burnic and Patrick Fritsch waiting in the wings. They featured on Bleacher Report's ranking of the club's 10 most promising talents.

It has to be said, of course, that Dortmund's upsurge in the youth department wasn't Wolf's work alone. He profited greatly from the club's strategic decisions to invest heavily in the academy following the financial recovery under chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Between new training grounds that centralised the entire youth department at the same facility where Thomas Tuchel's senior team works during the week and a dormitory that houses talents who aren't from the Ruhr area, the Black and Yellows now have a state-of-the-art academy.

It was awarded the highest possible rating of three stars in a certification process headed by the Bundesliga's governing body, the DFL, in December, per the club's website.

Dortmund's investment in the academy allowed them to attract someone like Pulisic, who had a plethora of options coming over from the United States, or Jacob Bruun Larsen, who was signed from Lyngby in Denmark.

Only a few years ago, Dortmund struggled to keep their own talents, with young players such as Germany international Antonio Rudiger defecting to Stuttgart, Stephen Sama to Liverpool and Thomas Eisfeld to Arsenal.

This shouldn't take anything away from Wolf's accomplishments with the club, though. Winning three championships is impressive no matter how good the personnel at his disposal was.

That said, fans needn't worry that another ice age is now upon Dortmund's youth sector. In fact, Wolf's departure to Stuttgart offers an opportunity more than anything.

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Watching his teams play, it was clear to see why Jurgen Klopp advised the club to employ the then-unknown Wolf in 2009.

The two first met at a gala for local athletes hosted by local paper Ruhr Nachrichten and immediately hit it off, with Wolf crediting this meeting as one major reason for his appointment at Stuttgart in his first press conference on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old and Klopp share many tactical and coaching philosophies. For them, football has to be played fast, with high intensity and emotion. Their coaching styles are similar, they roam the touchline and belt out a near-constant battery of instructions.

Wolf's youth teams showed the same strengths as Klopp's Dortmund sides, often overpowering opponents with counter-pressing and transition attacks. However, they also showed the same weaknesses in possession; a lack of a plan B, if you like.

In that regard, Wolf's departure is more opportunity than anything else.

His successor Benjamin Hoffmann, who moves up from the under-17 level, preaches a much more inventive playing style. While they lost the Bundesliga final against Leverkusen last season, his team was far more dominant on the ball than Wolf's.

If the latter's football philosophy is close to Klopp's, Hoffmann's is close to Tuchel's. That should excite fans, as they have seen the massive improvements Dortmund made under the 43-year-old since he took over after the disappointing end to Klopp's incredible tenure at the Westfalenstadion.

Even though it seems highly unlikely that Hoffmann can defend the title Dortmund's under-19s won under Wolf—already without Passlack and Pulisic, they miss highly rated talents in striker Janni-Luca Serra and full-back Dario Scuderi, who picked up gruesome knee injuries—it's no stretch to predict that the transition from youth to senior level should become even smoother now.

Wolf's appointment at Stuttgart would then prove a win-win situation. His personality will be missed, but his departure should be considered a chance, not a setback.

Lars Pollmann also writes for The Yellow Wall. You can follow him on Twitter.