ELF Championship Game: Jordan Neuman’s Surge — “Ready for the moment” without the noise

By John Mahnen

STUTTGART — As the clock wound down on the semifinal, Jordan Neuman gathered his team and gave them all of 60 minutes to enjoy it. “My 24-hour rule,” he said with a grin, “is usually one hour.” Then the head coach of the Stuttgart Surge did what he has done across a decade of winning in Europe: he went back to work.  

“We had no fear—we were ready for the moment,” Neuman said this week, leaning into a mindset he’s been building since the first off-season practice. “We’re playing our best football now, and we still have one big goal.”  

If that sounds like coach-speak, the details aren’t. Neuman’s emphasis—almost to the exclusion of everything else—was on training, not ceremony. He praised a locker room that took the semifinal in stride, then reset quickly, channeling the energy into a week of detail work before facing the Vienna Vikings in Sunday’s ELF Championship Game at Stuttgart’s MHP Arena.  

Home, but not home free  

There is no hiding the significance of the venue.

“For our Stuttgart guys, playing the final here is special,” he acknowledged. The no-travel factor matters. So does the swell of a home crowd. But Neuman is careful that “home” doesn’t become “comfortable.”  

“Reaching the home final isn’t the finish line,” he said. “We can’t exhale just because we hit that goal. We need more motivation this week, not less.”  

The practical upside of the location is obvious—fewer logistical variables, more consistency in players’ weekly routines, and the emotional lift of a city behind them. But Neuman keeps the message tight: emotion in control, execution on schedule.  

A respectful look across the field  

Neuman knows Vienna intimately. He served as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator earlier in his career and maintains a close friendship with head coach Chris Calaycay—just not this week. “We speak every week,” he said with a smile, “but not so much this week.”  

His assessment of the opponent is clear and concise: “Vienna has talent all over the field—defense, offense, special teams—top-coached by Chris Calaycay and his staff.” He declines to anoint a favorite. Vienna were the top seed, he notes, and leaves labels to fans.  

Behind the courtesy is a strategic spine. Neuman’s teams are known for operating with clarity: a crisp offensive identity, complementary defense and special teams, and situational football that travels. In a one-game season, that clarity is armor.  

The Neuman method: compress the window, expand the standard  

Talk to players who’ve followed Neuman from program to program and you hear the same phrases: detail, tempo, ownership. He compresses the celebration window to an hour; he expands the standard to an all-week requirement. The semi was a perfect example—celebrate together, then flip to Vienna, because the film won’t watch itself and the practice plan won’t write itself.  

Pressed about whether playing at home changes the week, he nodded to the obvious advantages before returning to the checklist: controllables, not narratives. That means red-zone calls and protections; communication plans for loud moments even in a friendly stadium; special teams assignments down to who touches which tee and when. If there’s a throughline to Neuman’s run in Europe, it’s that he treats the “little” things like big things until the scoreboard reflects it.  

Facing the friend, respecting the rival  

The coaching subplot inevitably centers on two of European football’s most successful expat head coaches sharing the touchline: Calaycay and Neuman. They’ve traded ideas over the years. They’ve won big, lost big, and learned big in front of each other. This week, they exchanged a knowing quiet.  

“It’s respect,” Neuman said. “We both understand what this means to our organizations.”  

The irony is that their philosophies rhyme more than they diverge. Both coaches believe in club identity that survives roster churn; both invest in development; both are unafraid of the routine label, because routine is where execution lives. That overlap won’t make the game simpler; it will make every yard earned.  

The favorites question  

Who’s favored? Neuman won’t say. His point is practical: Vienna’s résumé speaks for itself, and favorites don’t decide fourth-and-short in the third quarter. He’s content to let supporters and neutral fans debate the odds while his staff spends its energy debating protection checks and coverage answers.  

It fits a pattern. Neuman built his reputation not on sound bites but on habits—his, his staff’s, his players’. If the Surge hoist the trophy on Sunday, it will look like that: a thousand small habits adding up to one very large moment.  

What to watch on Sunday  

Opening series tempo: Neuman likes to define rhythm early. Whether that’s scripted quick game, condensed sets, or an early shot, the first 10 plays will reveal intent.  

Noise plan on offense: Home helps, but championship crowds are unruly. Expect baked-in silent/limited-verbal answers and a premium on non-verbal communication.  

Hidden yards: Both teams obsess over special teams. Field position and PAT/FG operations could quietly swing a possession or two.  

Red-zone answers: Vienna are stingy in the short field. Neuman’s call sheet inside the 20—formations, motions, personnel—will be telling.