A former general manager said, “There is an effect” on foreign coaches, but “we need to select a proper coach.” There are many effects that a foreign coach can bring, but if you are not the right person, you can only waste a large amount of money and leave a big aftereffect on the team.
There are not that many cases of foreign coaches in the KBO League. The most widely known figure is former Lotte manager Jerry Royster. He showed off an aggressive baseball that advocated so-called ‘no fear’, and this led to his grades and set fire to the hearts of the still hot Lotte fans. Opinions are still divided on the merits of the ‘Royster’ era, but at least there is no disagreement that Lotte was the most popular team at the time.
However, what was regrettable for coach Royster was that there was no championship title. The person who achieved this is former SK coach Trey Hillman. Coach Hillman, who left a rare career as a coach in all three leagues, USA (Kansas City), Japan (Nippon Ham), and Korea (SK), combined American and Asian baseball based on his leadership career in Japan. In the first year, we received a lot of criticism for the management that was difficult to understand in our sentiment, but in the second year, after correcting it, we picked only the strengths and led the team to the Korean Series championship.
Since then, there have been few success stories of foreign directors. Former KIA coach Matt Williams and former Hanwha coach Carlos Subero all entered the KBO League stage with great expectations. Coach Williams had a more brilliant career than any other coach, and coach Subero was experienced in his upbringing. However, both coaches failed to complete the terms of their contracts and were sacked. It is true that I basically failed to produce results, and there was friction with the front desk in the direction I wanted to go.
All that remains now is Lotte manager Larry Sutton. Sutton has had an unusual career. If Hillman knows Asian baseball to some extent as a manager at the Nippon Ham, Sutton knows the characteristics of Korean baseball well through his active career in the KBO League. He also had a leadership life in the 2nd Army. He knows all too well the culture and physiology of the KBO league, where the parent company is behind and has a great influence, and immediate results are more important than fostering.
So, some officials who evaluate him say, “Although he is a foreigner, he is actually a Korean.” This can be beneficial in terms of adaptation and reality, but it can also be poisonous in that it cannot fully produce the effect of a foreign director. In fact, director Sutton was not free from various controversies after being officially supervised. He was also criticized for playing smallball more than foreign managers, and he was not able to score decisively, and his leadership was questioned.
▲ Manager Sutton ⓒLotte Giants
However, this year, in the final year of the contract, the evaluation changed favorably. Sutton, who has increased options to receive and use large-scale power reinforcement gifts before the season, is showing appropriate and understandable team management. The manager’s choice may not always be right, but this year, it is evaluated that he is leading the season as stably as his stronger power. In any case, if the manager is speaking sexually, Sutton’s start this season is good.토스카지노
If you look at baseball and the style of controlling the team, it is evaluated that it is neither Royster nor Hillman style. A former Lotte coach said, “The days of coach Royster were literally unprecedented. It was not easy for the coaches, as well as the players, to adapt to the new culture.” “Coach Sutton is a person who has experienced the KBO league. The team management style may not be the same. no,” he said. Park Seung-wook, who experienced Hillman’s management during SK, also said, “Director Hillman and Coach Sutton have slightly different styles.” However, he added, “It’s a style that is left to the players in a very free way. Let the players do it on their own.”
It is read as meaning that the overall tendency and framework of foreign directors are similar, but the details are different. It can be seen as natural because the process they have gone through is different. However, compared to domestic coaches, the atmosphere of autonomy is somewhat the same, and most agree that this meets grades and determines the result. If the results are good, you can make a really huge wave, but if the results are not good, the players may be confused because they don’t know what to do.
The performance in the first 30 games at the beginning of the season is therefore positive. He got off to a better-than-expected start with a 19-11 record (.633). Instead of relying on any one player, key players and young players take turns working together to create victory. There is also an evaluation that it is the first time in a long time that the good atmosphere of the team is clearly revealed on the field. Seungri is highly likely to create a virtuous circle in the culture unique to foreign directors. Attention is focusing on what kind of achievements await on the path of director Sutton, who is not Royster or Hillman.