Mitch Kniat: Hundred Days

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has struggled to find success in his first 100 days. It's quite the opposite for Bielefeld's maverick coach, Mitch Kniat.

What is the highest mountain in the world? The Bielefelder Alm (aka SchücoArena) – that’s how an old joke goes about Arminia Bielefeld as a notorious yo-yo team. For a long time, that also meant constant turnover on the coaching bench. That might now be changing in the long run.

Eva-Lotta Bohle, sports journalist, podcaster (among others at Rasenfunk), and passionate Bielefeld fan, writes about it in her guest piece for Unmodern Football.

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Photo by Chaos Soccer Gear on Unsplash

In politics, the 100-day rule is known as the grace period given to new officeholders or governments to settle into their role, understand their tasks, and show some early successes. Afterwards, a 100-day assessment follows.

I have rarely seen coaches at the Bielefelder Alm who lasted more than 100 matches on the sidelines for DSC. I was born in 1998, my first match was a 3–1 defeat against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen in August 2003. The coach at the time: Benno Möhlmann (who will become important later in this text).

I truly became a fan during the third-division years under Stefan Krämer, Norbert Meier and Uwe Neuhaus. I longed for stability on the coaching bench at the latest after the Forte-Scherning-Koschinat season of 2022/23.

And then it finally arrived:

On June 14, 2023, Mitch Kniat was presented as the new coach of DSC Arminia Bielefeld, who had been relegated from the 2. Bundesliga just eight days earlier. His appointment was one of the very first acts of the new sporting director, Michael Mutzel, who had already found his new home in East Westphalia one day after the lost relegation playoff.

Could the two of them have known back then that two years later they would be recovering from a season in which Arminia Bielefeld not only achieved the longed-for promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga and won the Westphalia Cup for the second year in a row, but also reached the DFB Cup final in Berlin for the first time in 120 years of club history?

I’ll stick my neck out and say: no.

Well, at least I didn’t. Thanks to the search function in my messenger app, I can even reproduce my exact reaction to Kniat’s appointment: “There’s nothing Scherning about him.”¹

As the saying goes: our expectations were low.

Back to our 100-match assessment: in that time Kniat has gone through more ups and downs than amusement park visitors on a roller coaster (or so I assume – I don’t go to amusement parks and certainly not on roller coasters – those things roll!):

A DFB Cup win against Bochum, a derby win against Preußen, and then a season that took its toll and saddled Mitch with the double-barreled nickname “Kniat Raus.”

But where others before him would have pulled the plug, Michael Mutzel – against all industry customs and media sentiment – stuck with Kniat, believed together with the team in the shared path, and was then able to celebrate survival on the penultimate matchday, thanks in part to his colleague, the goalpost.

It wasn’t the last time Mutzel had to underline his trust in Kniat: when, despite reaching the DFB Cup quarterfinals, the mood on the Alm turned after a 2–1 defeat against Rot-Weiß Essen at the turn of the year, some again asked the question:

Is this still working, Mitch and the DSC?

The answer was a clear yes.

From February 2 to August 24, Arminia Bielefeld did not lose a single home game, recording 11 wins and 2 draws across all competitions.

No wonder then that on average more than 20,000 fans wanted to give “all the good and money in the world for a football day in Bielefeld,” as a 1979 song goes.

The hype is real. With all its advantages and disadvantages.

And despite the defeat against Dynamo Dresden last Sunday, the first league defeat since March 8, Mitch Kniat and Michael Mutzel can be proud of their 100-match balance sheet.

Why is that so remarkable?

Because Arminia Bielefeld truly belongs to the German clubs where continuity on the coaching bench is in short supply. The last time was, take note, under Benno Möhlmann from 2000 to 2004 – more than 20 years ago.

Altogether, only three other coaches have reached this golden milestone, with “Power-Ernst” even appearing twice: Ernst Middendorp (102 matches, 1988–90), Hans Wendlandt (113, 1966–69), and once again Middendorp (143, 1994–98).

Clubs like 1. FC Heidenheim with Frank Schmidt (711 matches) or SC Freiburg with Christian Streich (488) have shown that precisely this kind of continuity can lead to respectable success and sustainable development in the long term – in a football industry where it is customary to discuss the first coaching dismissal after just three winless matches at the start of the season. Or where at Bayern Munich each year begins the guessing game: who has to go now, the coach or the sporting director?

At Arminia the message is clear: both coach and sporting director stay.

A coach with a clear vision, alongside a prudent sporting director who combines long-term strategy with a good hand in squad building. After decades of ups and downs, it truly looks as if calmer times are ahead for Arminia Bielefeld.

If I had to issue this Arminia government a 100-(match)-day report card, it would be a simple “keep it up.” Personally, I wouldn’t be sad at all if Mitch Kniat became the first coach to hit the 150-match mark. In interviews he has even said that he could very well imagine still being here in 20 years.

And as we just learned from Freiburg and Heidenheim, that can be exactly what makes the difference for many more fairy tales.

Maybe even another DFB Cup final.

We are still allowed to dream, aren’t we?

1. referring to Daniel Scherning, a former Coach