Lee Jong-beom's controversy. The key is improving treatment? It's not going to come if it's not worth billions The coach's ransom will be shaken
Jul 02, 2025
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In the face of a change in the coach's concept ahead of the new season, he politely made the proposal, judging that he was the right person to fill the team's disappointment. The retired player, who had no coaching experience, demanded an annual salary of well over 100 million won, a down payment and a multi-year contract.
Club A is deeply troubled. I wanted to meet the conditions as much as possible and bring them over, but it was not easy in reality. Handing that much condition to a novice coach could increase the relative deprivation felt by the coaches who were already on the team and make the coaching staff atmosphere strange. After much consideration, there was no recruitment.
Recently, former KT Wiz coach Lee Jong-beom's joining the baseball entertainment program 'strongest baseball' has been on the cutting board. During the season, there is a lot of criticism as to whether it is right for a coach who has a key position in the first team to leave the team competing for rankings and join the entertainment program. Days have passed, but the criticism has not died down. Rather, the explanations of the production team and former coach Lee Jong-beom seem to add fuel to the fire. In particular, baseball fans are angry, saying, `It is not a choice for the development of Korean baseball, but a way to ignore the KBO League for personal gain.'
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In fact, former coach Lee Jong-beom explained that rather than a matter of treatment or conditions, `the decision is made to help the development of Korean baseball and retired juniors,' but some officials in the field explained "It is understandable if you look at the coaches' treatment now." is sometimes said. It is pointed out that retired players and baseball players who work as leaders in the field and then move back to entertainment and YouTube channels are basically treated poorly by professional teams.
Currently, the basic annual salary for novice coaches in the KBO League starts at 45 million won to 50 million won. Of course, the annual salary increases little by little as the number of years accumulates, and if other teams receive a 'transfer love call', it may surge. Veteran coaches who have been recognized for their skills are guaranteed salaries, down payments, and multi-year contracts worth well over 100 million won. In many cases, head coaches who take on the role of assisting the manager are guaranteed hundreds of millions of won in salary or multi-year contracts.
But it is true that the majority of coaches who do not suffer from relatively low salaries. There is an FA system for players, and if they make a performance, their annual salary will soar, but coaches are not, so their relative deprivation increases.
However, it is not easy to pay too much salary to an outside coach that the club wants, as in the case of A's contract breakdown. Existing coaches, especially veteran coaches, who have quite a lot of experience but do not have a lot of salary, are in disarray if a new coach with no leadership experience is given a bigger salary than 'the market price' because he was a famous player.
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However, many retired players have recently been suffering from 'coaching difficulties' in the field as they have fallen into panels on entertainment programs or YouTube channels or operating lesson halls rather than becoming professional coaches after retirement. Of course, there are many good coaches who are passionate about coaching in the field, but the common voice is that it is difficult to find a good young coach.
In particular, the issue of treatment is more prominent as it is known in the field how much retired players from legends and stars are paid per episode for their entertainment program activities.
And retired players who are engaged in broadcasting activities "Professional baseball coaches suffer a lot, but it is practically difficult to do it immediately because the treatment is too poorThere are many coaches who feel even more frustrated about telling the story publicly. "If you tell such a story publicly on the show, wouldn't it make the low-salary coaches who are sweating hard with the players on the field a fool?" said the incumbent coach B.
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There is a consensus across the baseball community on improving basic treatment for coaches. However, as retired players continue to rush to entertainment, only another type of increase in specific coach salaries is continuing.
Of course, in a capitalist society, and given that most of them are heads of households, realistic choices cannot be criticized. However, a baseball official expressed concern, saying, `It is more desirable to improve the overall treatment of coaches at the same time, but rather, the phenomenon of the poor and the poor seems to be intensifying.'
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
