Injustice Shift for LG Head Coach

The replacement of LG’s head coach has become a controversial topic.

Generally, coaching staff changes are made after the season. LG has not made clear their reasons for replacing head coach Kim Tae-hwan.

Typically, there are two reasons that propel a team to make a coaching change: bad results or term termination. Coach Kim, however, has managed LG for the last four years and advanced to Big Four every year. Lee Yong-ho, the president of LG stated, “It is not a punishment for results, but for the new ambience of team.” Considering that the contract does not expire for another year, though, this sounds like a poor excuse.

Also hard to understand is the fact that LG selected assistant coach Park Jong-cheon, who has supported Coach Kim for the last year, as the new incoming coach. A coach and assistant coach share the fortune in basketball games. If a coach is held responsible for not winning a championship, the responsibility is shared with the assistant coach.

It has been made known that LG chose Park last year and unilaterally let Kim know it. As a result, the two coaches had some difficulty cooperating. During the season, a rumor emerged that the assistant coach ordered foreign players in tactics which the coach found disagreeable, forcing a team investigation. It is said that Park wrote a letter apologizing to Coach Kim.

Teamwork is central in sports. It is impossible for players to be unaware of existing conflict. Park has been criticized rather than celebrated for replacing the former coach. It remains questionable whether or not he will be able to control the team in consideration of its current state of affairs. Park himself appeared embarrassed during the celebration at the meeting for the alumni association on April 14 when he was selected as the head coach.

LG brings many spectators to their home, Chang-won. It has been remarked, however, that LG has made a stream of continuous mistakes lately, including the late response for the concoction of records and misjudgment in the playoffs.

Both Kim, who has been dishonored, and Park, now the head coach of a professional team, are deeply wounded. Personnel affairs are most important thing to a team.