TuS Haltern am See, 15th in the table in Westfalenliga Staffel 1, presented a new head coach before Christmas Eve.
Early Christmas present for the first team of TuS Haltern am See: Alexander Zerche takes over as head coach of the Westfalenliga club. This was announced by the club on December 23, 2023.
After the entire coaching team led by Lukas Große-Puppendahl resigned, those in charge, including Daniel Haxter, head of the football department, and Tim Abendroth, sporting director, set out to find a new head coach, ultimately deciding on Zerche.
“Alexander convinced us in our discussions with his manner, his football expertise and his approach. He has a clear plan of how he wants to develop the team and tackle the task of getting us back to success in the short to medium term,” explains Abendroth.
For Zerche himself, the decision to become the new coach of the Halteraner was quickly made. Zerche: “It has been my wish for some time to be the head coach in the Westfalenliga, because I know the league because of my past coaching stations. The TuS Haltern, as one of the highest-playing teams here in the district, naturally interested me the most. In my free time, I was able to get an early picture of the team. Fighting against relegation is a special task, of which I am well aware,” says the new TuS coach.
Zerche adds: ”However, I am absolutely convinced of the quality and potential of the team to stay in the league. In addition, the open and honest discussions with the people in charge have convinced me and given me a good feeling about our working relationship. I’m really looking forward to the time ahead at TuS.”
Zerche recently moved from Neuenkirchen to Dorsten and until the summer was the coach of the U19 Landesliga team Borussia Emsdetten, whose first team is a league opponent of TuS Haltern, while also coaching the reserve team of the Westfalenliga team. Previously, he had worked, among other things, in the youth performance center of VfL Bochum.
The coaching team around Alexander Zerche is to be expanded to include an assistant coach. TuS Haltern am See is in promising talks and is confident that it will be able to present a solution soon.