The Doosan Bears have traditionally had a lot of franchise managers.
Doosan has appointed a total of 11 coaches in the 43-year history of the KBO League, including Kim Young-deok, Kim Sung-keun, Lee Kwang-hwan, Lee Jae-woo, Yoon Dong-gyun, Kim In-sik, Kim Kyung-moon, Kim Jin-wook, Song Il-soo, Kim Tae-hyung and Lee Seung-yeop. Former head coach Lee Seung-yeop, who voluntarily resigned on Tuesday, was the 11th head coach.
We naturally wonder whether Lee Seung-yeop will replace the former coach. Doosan hurriedly appointed quality control coach Cho Seong-hwan as its acting coach and will play the first game of the season. Its debut match will be against the KIA Tigers in Jamsil on Tuesday. The club did not include any information related to the next coach in its press release.스포츠토토
Now Doosan has two major choices. First, it will complete the regular season as acting coach Cho Sung-hwan. Then, it will appoint a new coach to lead the team from 2026 season after the season. If this happens, acting coach Cho Sung-hwan may or may not be a candidate for the next coach. Both insiders and outsiders can be nominated.
Another option is to serve as acting coach Cho Sung-hwan for the entire season, but at the same time proceed with the process of appointing the next coach. In this case, the team will appoint the next coach during the season. Cho can be replaced with an acting coach or a new coach can be promoted internally or recruited from outside. Realistically, however, most of the seasons during which Cho was appointed were mostly from outside.
For your information, the Hanwha Eagles announced Choi Won-ho's resignation on May 27, 2024. Kim was then appointed on June 2, 2024. Kim made his debut against the Suwon KT Wiz on June 3, 2024. Before the club announced his resignation, Choi Won-ho had already announced his resignation, and the club set its sights on the appointment of an experienced veteran coach early on.
It is not yet clear what choice Doosan will make. Chances are high that he was informed of his resignation on Tuesday by former coach Lee Seung-yeop, and failed to come up with detailed plans for the new coach while appointing acting coach Cho Sung-hwan. However, the 2025 season has just passed one-third.
It is the first time in 14 years that the Doosan head coach quit the job since 2011 when he was the head coach. At the time, Kim Kyung-moon resigned on June 13 after going into conflict with the club. At that time, Doosan appointed head coach Kim Jin-wook after completing the rest of the season under acting head coach Kim Kwang-soo.
As manager Lee Seung-yeop, who was picked by owner Park Jung-won himself, failed, it is also necessary to see how Doosan will set the principle of appointing a new coach and what road map it will draw up. For reference, four of Doosan's 11 head coaches have played in OB or Doosan (Yoon Dong-kyun, Kim Kyung-moon, Kim Jin-wook, and Kim Tae-hyung).
Considering that Kim Young-deok, Kim Seong-geun, Lee Kwang-hwan, Lee Jae-woo, and Kim In-shik played professionally before the launch of the pro baseball league, Doosan had long preferred appointment of franchise player-turned-manager as head coach. Former Doosan coach Song Il-soo was not from Doosan, including Lee Seung-yeop. Nevertheless, former Doosan coach Song Il-soo became the head coach of the second division. Former Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop was virtually the only one who joined Doosan as its head coach.