“It’s surprisingly enthusiastic. It feels like it’s going to be great.”
Goyang Sono recently resigned as the first head coach Kim Seung-gi, leaving the head coach in a vacant position. As the 2024-25 KCC Professional Basketball League is about to restart, they announced the new pattern and sent surprising news.
According to sources familiar with professional basketball, Sono will appoint Kim Tae-soo, currently a commentator, as the second head coach. In other words, coach Kim Chang-mo will join the existing coach Kim Kang-sun.
Sono will meet with Commissioner Kim Tae-soo on the 24th. It is expected that new news will be released as soon as the afternoon of the same day and as late as the 25th. It can be said that this has gone beyond being powerful and is in fact confirmed.
This is an extraordinary personnel adjustment. During his player days, Kim Tae-soo was the last protagonist in the six-year scoring cycle of the Republic of Korea. He was nicknamed “Magic Child” and was rated as the top scorer.
But coach Kim Tae-soo has little to explain. Let alone an amateur player, he has never officially coached in a professional league. Last year, on the eve of the regular competition, we cooperated as a coach for about one month at the request of Yonsei University.
Even when selecting “novice coaches”, in most cases, in order to make up for lack of experience, “coach-level” senior coaches will be hired. This is the method chosen by teams that select “novice coaches” in professional sports not only in Korea but also in many countries.
The Los Angeles Lakers, which recently made a similar choice to Sono, also appointed a new coach named JJ Redick, but “coach-level players” such as Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks joined and provided help.
First, Sono placed “novice coaches” such as coaches Kim Chang-mo and Kim Kang-sun next to committee member Kim Tae-soo. From all aspects, this can only be seen as an unusual personnel arrangement.
The one month I spent at Yonsei University that can confirm Kim Tae-soo’s leadership ability is now a little bit confirmed. It is reported that his coaching style is different from that of formal coaches. Yonsei University coach Yoon Ho-jin expressed his positive reaction to the news that committee member Kim Tae-soo was appointed as Sono’s second-generation coach.
Coach Yoon Ho-jin said, “After coach (Eun Hee-seok) went to (Seoul) Samsung, he asked Commissioner Kim Tae-soo for help while coaching the team. We didn’t have a coach at that time. Commissioner Kim Tae-soo I readily agreed to help, and I happened to have a coaching certificate, so we spent about a month together in order to coordinate with the regular competition last year.”
He also said, “Commissioner Kim Taeshu mainly plays the role of introducing his experience to the players. It is a burden for me to help as a whole. But I got a lot of help. Isn’t the secret that committee member Kim Taeshu has worth spending money on?” Can’t buy it? The players are also very grateful.”
Among the many Yonsei University players, the one who received the greatest help from committee member Kim Tae-soo was Lee Min-seo, who was named the seventh overall pick in this year’s rookie selection by Seoul SK. The man who had the most athleticism in high school needed a change of style after his first ACL injury. The person who helped a lot at that time was committee member Kim Tae-soo.
Coach Yoon Ho-jin said: “(Lee) Min-soo’s change in playing style is something that the players and I are considering. At that time, I thought that I could get a lot of help from committee member Kim Tae-soo. Didn’t you say that we don’t generally cultivate scorers? It’s obvious. It was possible, but at that time, committee member Kim Tae-soo was thinking about methods and quickly determined the direction. “I am a person who can’t speak when it comes to basketball (laughs). Of course, Minseo became more confident at that time.” , I really worked very hard.”
Of course, “novice coach” does not and cannot ignore the title of “novice coach”. During this period, there were no successful people like Commissioner Kim Tae-soo. It can be seen that the positions of players and coaches are different. Judging from current standards, the success rate of Jin Taishu Committee is actually not high.
Director Yoon Ho-jin had a different reaction. He said, “Experience is indeed important. I just saw Commissioner Kim Tae-soo from the side as a “prepared person.” Inexperience means that you will experience corresponding mistakes. He has the enthusiasm and efforts to fully reduce these.”
He also said: “I feel like I will do a good job. Although I was with Commissioner Kim Tae-soo briefly, the enthusiasm he showed was surprising. Like all professions, the growth of a head coach cannot be achieved without the study of basketball.” The speed will inevitably be slower. But Kim Tae-soo, who studies basketball every day, can reduce a lot of trial and error. “I feel that it will be done well.” Wherever he goes, he delivers 100 percent. “
[闵俊九 MK体育记者]
