It was a scenario that SSG fans would have dreamed of at least once, but when it came to reality, it was a surprising shock to everyone. SSG virtually dismissed coach Won-hyung Kim, the head coach who led the team to a combined championship in 2022. Coach Kim, who had two years left on his contract, ended his three-year coaching career at SSG. The fallout surrounding SSG's surprise decision is also significant.
SSG issued a press release on the 31st and officially announced the termination of coach Kim Won-hyung's contract. SSG said in a press release that this decision was finally made on the morning of the 31st, adding that the person involved, coach Wonhyeong Kim, was notified around 12:30 pm on the 31st. SSG explained the background to this decision, saying, "SSG decided that change and innovation were necessary, including overall team operation and player generation replacement. Change was inevitable in order to renew the team and transform it into a stronger team that is more loved."
Last year's Korean Series winning team, SSG, placed 3rd in the regular season this year, and in the semi-playoffs, they were not able to win a single game against NC, the 4th place team in the regular season, and suffered a shocking elimination with 3 consecutive losses. However, SSG emphasized that "we absolutely do not terminate the contract due to performance," and added, "After the end of the postseason, we conducted a fierce internal review. We believed that change and innovation were necessary for a team that continues to develop. Rather than delaying it, “We decided that it would be better to make a decision more quickly, so we took action,” he said.
Coach Won-Hyung Kim, a legend who made his professional debut at Ssangbangwool in 1991 and has a total of 134 wins, has a deep connection with SSG. When SK, the predecessor of SSG, founded the Ssangbangwool team, coach Kim was one of the members. He played in the SK uniform from 2000 to 2010, and was active both on and off the field, including serving as the team's captain. After his retirement, he began his career as a coach at SK. Many of the players who became his colleagues and students during his coaching days still remain at SSG.
Coach Kim, who later served as a coach at Lotte and Doosan, ascended to the command tower of SK, which was in crisis ahead of the 2021 season. SK, which won the Korean Series in 2018, was the protagonist of tragedy in 2019, but was still a team that took second place with 88 wins in the regular season. However, due to the failure of generational change and the departure of key players such as Kim Kwang-hyun's advancement to the major leagues, the team suffered severe upheaval, falling to 9th place in 2020. Accordingly, SK selected coach Kim as the successor to coach Yeom Kyung-yeop (current LG coach), who stepped down due to health reasons.
Coincidentally, after his appointment, SSG took over SK and he was given the title of SSG's first manager. Coach Kim had a not bad debut season as a coach, competing in the postseason until the end despite not having any finances in 2021. Even with the departure of key starting pitchers Park Jong-hoon and Moon Seung-won due to elbow surgery, they competed for 5th place until the last day. And in 2022, with much improved power, including the addition of Kim Gwang-hyun, they achieved the first 'wire to wire' in KBO League history (a win that maintained first place from the opening day of the regular season to the last day), and won the overall championship by defeating Kiwoom in the Korean Series.
There seemed to be no special obstacles in front of Coach Kim, who showed off the club's trust by renewing his contract for a total of 2.2 billion won for three years just before the Korean Series last year. This season too, they were achieving decent results, maintaining second place until mid-season. However, as the veteran players that Coach Kim had used were in a slump, and the lack of a generation to support them was keenly felt, the team fell to 6th place at one point in the season and fell into crisis.
It is a time when Coach Kim's leadership is being tested not only among fans but also within the club. They finished the regular season in 3rd place, but their leadership was flawed as they were eliminated in the semi-playoffs with 3 losses. So, did SSG suddenly fire coach Kim, who had good grades? We looked at the reasons from several angles and looked at the prospects.
Q) Why did SSG fire coach Kim, the winning coach?
SSG is saying through official announcements and club officials, “It’s not because of performance.” There must be some justification when dismissing a director. This is especially true if it is an unusual case like Director Kim, who has two years left on his contract. SSG emphasized, "First of all, I would like to thank the coach for his contributions to the team over the past three years and I am very sorry for making this decision. It was a difficult and difficult decision. I can assure you that the contract will never be terminated due to grades."
In fact, Coach Kim is the coach who led the combined championship last year, and although there were twists and turns this year, he took third place. Even if he is the team with the highest salary, he cannot always win the championship. If we say that Coach Kim was fired because of his performance, there are actually quite a few coaches who had to take off their uniforms before Coach Kim. The external image that “the club is not satisfied even if we finish third” could also be a burden on the future appointment of a manager. Even if SSG was dissatisfied with this season's performance, it would have been difficult to use this as an excuse.
The justification put forth by SSG is ‘change’ and ‘innovation’. The plan is to achieve a gradual generational change through this. SSG has been drawing up this plan little by little since winning the Korean Series last year. The veteran players currently leading the team were older, and it was believed that the team needed to prepare for future strength in order to become a sustainable strong team. However, it is true that there has been a continued internal judgment this year that the club's thoughts and Coach Kim's entry management were slightly different.
Coach Kim actively hired young players in the early days of his tenure, and sometimes stubbornly gave them opportunities even while accepting criticism from fans. The representative player who grew during this process was Park Seong-han, and there were also new players such as Choi Ji-hoon, Oh Won-seok, and Choi Min-jun. This is the background to the evaluation that “the feedback is good” from within the club. However, SSG's internal judgment was that it had become increasingly conservative.
This is also symbolized by the fact that there have been frequent conversations between the front office and the manager in several areas since the middle of the season, such as the hiring of young players and active use of data. This also led to some small changes at the end of the season. However, when the season was reviewed after being eliminated from the semi-playoffs, it was reported that it was judged that this aspect had not ultimately changed.
There was an aspect of understanding the coach's situation where grades are important, but crucially, he was not sure whether this trend would change in 2024. The fact that SSG emphasized words such as 'renovation', 'change', and 'innovation' in the press release is interpreted as being related to this.
Was coach Kim Won-hyung dismissed and a new coach appointed?
It is true that there were various evaluations of coach Kim's leadership throughout the season. However, given the circumstances, it does not appear that Director Kim's dismissal was predetermined. SSG's season ended on October 25th, and the club's core front office worked normally until the 27th to prepare for the next season, including the final camp. If it had been decided internally, there was no need to wait until the 31st.
At the end of the season and even after the season ended, some people expressed the opinion within SSG that "the club, including the coach, needs to change a little," but it is difficult to say that it was a nuance that meant a replacement of the coach. Although change was necessary, it was a nuance that meant change within coach Kim Won-hyung himself and his system and did not mean a drastic reorganization of the coaching staff. There are quite a few opinions that it feels sudden.
In particular, the 31st is the day when the second round of the playoffs is held. As a rule, clubs do not announce important matters on the day of a postseason game unless it is an urgent situation. An SSG official even wrote, "We sincerely apologize for distributing materials on the day of the playoff game."
The front office has been conducting internal evaluations and discussions regarding the overall 2023 season in recent days. It is emphasized that the discussion did not begin with the assumption of Director Kim’s dismissal from the beginning. However, doubts were gradually growing as the Kagoshima final camp list, which had already been confirmed, was not officially announced. At first, it was thought to be an issue with the coaching staff who decided to leave the team, but the club's story is that the larger-than-expected departure of the coaching staff and the evaluation continued to deepen during the review process, ultimately leading to discussions on the overall framework, including Coach Kim.
SSG explained, "At first, we decided on the composition of players and coaching staff for the composition of the team, generational change, team management, and overall game management, but we also proceeded with the replacement of the manager." It is known that several factors such as team management and internal leadership, which are not readily apparent from the outside, became evaluation factors rather than team performance. In the baseball world, some are paying attention to the continued departure of coaches. In any case, the result means that SSG saw the 'loss' greater than the 'gain' brought by Director Kim.
SSG is also drawing a line against suspicions that a new coach has already been appointed. The official announcement was, "The termination of the director's contract was decided today. The list of candidates for a new director also begins today."