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Among the head coaches of the 10 professional baseball teams this year, the coach who has been in charge of his current team the longest is KT Wiz’s coach Lee Kang-cheol.
After a long career as a coach, coach Lee finally achieved his dream by becoming the head coach of KT Wiz in 2019.
He renewed his contract for 3 years in October 2020 before the end of his 3-year contract, and signed another 3-year contract renewal in October 2023 to end his contract in 2026.
I was guaranteed to my term. 파워볼게임
If Director Lee completes his term, he will lead KT for eight years.
KT, which entered the first team stage in 2015, entered the fall baseball stage for the first time in 2020, the second year of Coach Lee’s appointment, and advanced to the postseason for four consecutive years until last year.
In 2021, they won the regular league and the Korean Series one after another to win the overall championship, and in 2023, they took second place in the Korean Series.
With the precise support of the club’s front office led by General Manager Na Do-hyeon and Coach Lee’s tolerance and smooth communication skills in perfect harmony.
KT has risen from the bottom and established a team color called ‘Zombie Magic’ that never misses the fall stage and is a strong team in the KBO League. established itself as
KT’s case is an example of a successful club operation that achieved results, team stability, and box office success.
Coach Hong Won-ki, who was appointed as the 6th head coach of Kiwoom Heroes for a two-year term in 2021, succeeded in renewing his contract for three years by leading the team to the wild card game that year and advancing it to the Korean Series the following year.
This year is the second year of contract renewal.
The Heroes, who cannot spend a lot of money because they do not have a parent company, praised the broad understanding of coach Hong, who has been serving as a coach and manager only for the team for 16 years.
Excluding KT and Kiwoom, the tenure of the head coaches of the remaining eight teams is less than two years at most.
The Samsung Lions and NC Dinos are in the midst of their second seasons with coach Park Jin-man and coach Kang In-kwon, who proved their abilities as acting coaches following the former coach’s resignation, promoted to full-time head coaches.
KIA Tigers coach Lee Beom-ho, who took over at spring camp early this year in place of the previous coach who was dismissed during the contract period due to an unfortunate incident, was also an insider of the club, like coaches Hong Won-ki, Park Jin-man and Kang In-kwon.
The LG Twins, Doosan Bears, SSG Landers, and Lotte Giants entrusted their teams to external personnel.
As soon as LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop took charge last year, he achieved great success by giving the Twins their first Korean Series championship in 29 years.
Doosan, which declared a complete change in leadership, parted ways with coach Kim Tae-hyung, who had achieved the milestone of advancing to the Korean Series for seven consecutive years, and gave coach Lee Seung-yeop, the ‘national hitter’ last year, the opportunity to debut as a leader.
Coach Kim Tae-hyung returned to the field after two years in charge of Lotte this year, and coach Lee Soong-yong also sat in the coach’s seat wearing SSG uniform this season.
Hanwha Eagles coach Choi Won-ho, who was an internal member, was virtually dismissed on the 27th, taking responsibility for poor performance.
Hanwha has begun recruiting a follow-up manager.
Professional baseball teams change managers overnight, citing various reasons such as performance, team direction, and scandals.
In today’s reality, where performance pressure from the parent company and loyal fans is intensifying, and the number of retired star players is increasing, the number of candidates for famous coaches has rapidly increased regardless of leadership ability.
In today’s reality, there are few coaches who can ‘remain in power for a long time’ like former coaches Kim Eung-yong, Kim In-sik, and Kim Seong-geun.
It has become a handful.
The negative effects of frequent manager changes result in the loss of the unique team color.
A club that has established a system for recruiting, nurturing, and supporting players will not be greatly shaken, but a club that relies only on one manager without a systematic system will not be able to settle down and will only drift endlessly.
This is why criticism is pouring in on Hanwha, which recently had four coaches in a row, including former coach Won-ho Choi, quit midway.