The trend of appointing a coach in men's professional basketball is changing from "young wind" to "retro style." It was Moon Kyung-eun (54), who was recently appointed as the new head coach of Suwon KT, who hit the peak in the so-called "preferential treatment for experienced players." A total of five new coaches have taken the helm, including Yoo Do-hoon (58·KGC), Lee Sang-min (52·KCC), Son Chang-hwan (49·Sono), and Yang Dong-geun (44) of Hyundai Mobis. What these new coaches have in common is that they have a lot of experience as leaders (coaches and coaches). Up until the 2024-2025 season, "young leadership" seemed to make a soft landing in the basketball community. There were high expectations that a young coach would be better in line with the trend of MZ generation players and social changes.온라인카지노

As of the end of the 2024-2025 season, the age distribution of coaches from 10 teams was in their 40s, except for KCC manager Jeon Chang-jin (62), former KGC coach Kim Sang-sik (57), and SK manager Jeon Hee-chul (52). For this reason, the basketball version of the "40s flag bearer" was popularized.

However, the '40s flag theory', which was expected to bring a new wind, was actually a failure. Former coach Kim Tae-sul resigned after one season without completing the remaining three years of his term in office, and Kim Hyo-beom, 42, the head coach of Seoul Samsung, was at the bottom of the KBL league for the first four consecutive seasons. Song Young-jin, 47, the former coach of KT, failed to sign an "option one year" contract. One thing common with failure cases was a lack of leadership experience. On the other hand, Cho Sang-hyun, the eldest brother of the "40s flag bearer theory" and practically 50 years old, started as a coach of Goyang Orion in 2013 and presented his first champion since the foundation of LG based on his abundant experience as a coach of the national team. Witnessing such success-failure cases, there has been a change of perception that "young is not a skill," and an atmosphere in which people with experience are given preferential treatment. "An old horse has a negative meaning in his saying, but an old horse knows its way," a basketball industry source said. "For professional teams that want to improve their performance, the know-how of the experienced person may be more important."

Perhaps that's why Yoo Do-hoon, Moon Kyung-eun, who was appointed this time, and director Lee Sang-min and Son Chang-hwan are all "experienced people." Coach Yoo started his coaching career by taking the helm of KGC during the 2006-2007 season after retiring as an active player from KCC in 2000. Since then, he has been appointed as a long-term coach of E-Land and Korea Gas Corporation for 14 seasons from the 2009-2010 season, creating a regular playoff team with one championship game, four semifinal games, and five semifinal games. He resigned midway after the end of the 2022-2023 season due to club circumstances, but he got a chance again because there was no flaw in his evaluation of the "leader" Yu Do-hoon.

While leading SK for 10 years from 2011, Moon also led SK in its "second heyday," which was a strong team in the early days of professional baseball, with one championship, two regular championships, three semifinalists, and one semifinalist. After serving as a commentator for five years after leaving SK, he was selected by a rival telecommunications company team because of his experience in winning the championship.

Lee Sang-min, who has been a coach and manager for 10 years at Samsung, has been a coach for two years under Jeon Chang-jin, a KCC coach, and received "coaching lessons" including assisting him in becoming a champion (2023-2024 season). Sohn Chang-hwan, who took the helm for the first time, is also a veteran coach. After his retirement from KGC in 2003, he turned into a coach for 10 years (2005-2015), and assisted Kim for 10 years. He has as many as three champions during the period. "As he has been by the team for 20 years even after his retirement, I believe he will display his capabilities not only in experience but also in communicating with players," said Lee Ki-wan, general manager of Sono.