Since December 2016 Manuel Baum is very successfully coaching FC Augsburg's professional team. At TUM he has earned a diploma in Sports Sciences and Teaching for Realschule (Image: Astrid Eckert/TUM).
Love for football
After finishing school his thirst for knowledge led him to TUM: “For me, the question of why has always been an important one during training. I mean not just consuming contents but to understand why I had to do a run or power training.”
He completed a double degree in Sports Science with an emphasis on Economics and Management & Sports on one side, and on the other Sports & Economics for teaching at Realschule. Here Manuel Baum also met his later wife. In addition to studying he continued to play – back then in the fourth-highest league in Bavaria – and furthermore coached the trainees at 1860 München. “That was a pretty tight schedule“, Manuel Baum says today.
I am happy to share a little of what i was able to experience.
Next to his teaching job Manuel Baum continued to coach the third-league team in Unterhaching, and later became the head coach of the youth training centre in Augsburg. In December 2016 he received the crucial call. Since then Manuel Baum is very successfully coaching the FC Augsburg’s professional team. Initially the top candidate for relegation at the beginning of this season, the team delivered the best start of the season the club has ever had.
Permanent post as a civil servant or coaching position
Currently Manuel Baum is on leave from his teaching position in order to pursue his coaching job. But in the long term that is not a solution. “The most difficult impending decision is going to be whether I should give up my lifetime position as a civil servant in oder to coach full-time. That is really difficult, especially if you have a family”, says Manuel Baum, who has two small kids with his wife. Despite his many commitments, he frequently takes the time to let others benefit from his experience: “I try to give back a little of what I was able to experience, for example to provide insights into the professional world in a small presentation. But right now my life is all about my family and football.”
Manuel Baum (Picture Astrid Eckert/TUM)
Diploma Sports Sciences 2005, Staatsexamen (state examination) 2006
Manuel Baum started his football career as a goalkeeper in Dingolfing in Lower Bavaria and joined TSV 1860 München when he was 15 years old. He had further stopovers at the FC Ismaning and FC Unterföhring.
Because his father was a teacher, Manuel Baum opted for a double degree at TUM: a diploma in Sports Sciences with an emphasis on Economics & Management on one hand and Sports & Economics for teaching at Realschule on the other.
He started his career as a coach at 1860 München, then moved on to third-league club SpVgg Unterhaching. Eventually he became head coach at FC Augsburg’s youth training centre. In December 2016 he took over FC Augsburg’s professional team, with which he is very successful now.
Manuel Baum is married with two kids. He met his wife while studying at TUM.
Manuel Baum in an interview: read the entire conversation in the issue 1/2018 of the Alumni magazine>
