NC Dinos broke up with head coach Kang In-kwon.
NC said on the 20th that it has decided to dismiss Kang after being eliminated from the semifinals to renew the atmosphere that has been stagnant due to poor performance. For the rest of the season, Gong Pil-sung, head coach of the C team (NC Futures team), will serve as acting coach.
NC said, “We tried to avoid the organizational culture that becomes a habit of replacing the command tower and starting anew. In particular, with the aim of creating a sustainable strong team, we consistently believed in the field and supported the continuity and continuity of the system or leadership, but as the elimination of the 5th round was confirmed, we decided that it was time to focus on preparing for the 2025 season through a mood change, so we terminated the contract with coach Kang.”
Coach Kang, who made his professional debut with Hanwha Eagles in 1995 and served as a catcher until 2006 after passing through the Doosan Bears, began his leadership career as Doosan’s second-tier battery coach in 2007. Since then, he took the helm of NC as an acting coach in the first half of the 2022 season, and wrote a good report card of 35 wins, 1 draw and 25 losses in the second half (0.583 win rate). 토토사이트
Coach Kang In-kwon, who was labeled an “acting manager” in the 2023 season in recognition of his ability, led NC’s rise that year. Before the opening, key players such as Yang Eui-ji (Doosan), Noh Jin-hyuk (Lotte Giants), and Won Jong-hyun (Kium Heroes) left, but he united NC into a “one team” with his unique charisma. His regular league record in the 2023 season was fourth with 75 wins, two draws and 67 losses.
Even into the fall baseball season, NC, led by head coach Kang In-kwon, continued its momentum. Super ace Eric Peddy (St. Louis Cardinals) played in only one postseason game due to injury, but he did not lose a single game until the wild card game, semi-playoff and second playoff game. Unfortunately, he failed to advance to the Korean Series due to his physical limitations, but it was certainly an achievement that deserved a big round of applause.
However, many hardships awaited manager Kang In-kwon and NC. They maintained a good trend until April, recording 20 wins and 11 losses to rank second, but the mood was dampened by a series of injuries suffered by starting pitchers. Shortstop Kim Joo-won and catcher Kim Hyung-joon, who had high expectations for a step up through their experience in international competitions such as the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023, all suffered growing pains during the season, and young promising players who came to the first team to replace injured players also felt their limitations.
NC, which had been mired in eight consecutive losses since mid-May, seemed to be settling down to some extent in the second half of the season, but failed to avoid the injury again this time. Son Ah-seop, the main batter, suffered a cruciate ligament injury at the rear of his left knee in the last game of the first half, and Park Kun-woo also left the game due to a wrist fracture. On top of that, ace Kyle Hart also missed about three weeks due to symptoms of cold in August.
Then, the NC Dinosaurs began to fall hard. From Aug. 6 to Aug. 20, they plunged into 11 consecutive losses, the largest since their establishment, and lost five straight games from Sept. 8 to Aug. 14, when they had hopes for fall baseball. After losing 6-7 to Hanwha in Changwon on Aug. 19, NC decided to break up with Kang In-kwon after failing to advance to the postseason. Kang now has 197 wins, seven draws and 197 losses (winning rate of 0.500) in 401 games including his acting period, and gave up the baton.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lim Seon-nam, NC’s general manager, said on the same day, “I was disappointed to see the reverse defeat in the same pattern in terms of player appointment and management,” adding, “As poor players continued to be used, (the team’s) slump continued and no new players came out. I was agonizing over whether I should keep going as I missed the last watershed of the semifinal fight. If this is repeated, it is not desirable in the long run.”
There is also a view that NC’s sluggish performance this year was beyond coach’s control because so many players suffered line injuries.
“It is not fair to blame the coach for all the disappointing performances because there are many injuries in the area of bad luck,” general manager Lim said. “The coach did his best and I am grateful for the part that led the team to the postseason last year.”
Now, NC plans to start the process of appointing the next head coach.
Lim Sun-nam, the general manager, said, “I want to make NC a strong team that is consistently good with the club and the manager, not led by the front or one of the coaches. Since there are many young resources in the team, I think it would be nice to have someone who can grow well,” and added, “In the first half of this season, the growth of young players was stagnant, but in the second half of this season, Kim Joo-won and Kim Hwi-jip showed full recovery. If we think of it as a growing pain and develop it, I hope it will lead to good results next year and the year after.”
