Schalke officially announced Rice's coaching fee (€300,000) coincided with the surprising news that sporting director Schroeder left the club. Schroder came to the team after Schalke's relegation in 2021, and although he helped the club return to the Bundesliga after a year, the team's poor performance this season and the choice of Kramer to coach still made Schroeder hear a lot of criticism. Recently, a friend of Schroder was diagnosed with serious cancer, which hit him hard, and finally decided to end his contract early until the summer of 2024, originally preparing to leave the club after the start of the winter break on November 12, but decided to say goodbye immediately on Wednesday, an important reason is that the club's senior management was skeptical of his support for Rice, and sports director Konebel will temporarily take over Schroeder's job. Schalke's last coaching for more than two years was Slomka, who left in 2008, and in the 14 years since then, Schalke has undergone 23 changes of manager (including the use of temporary coaches).
