Director Lee Ho-joon's behind-the-scenes release, "I didn't get a text message from NC during the PS period, and I can't believe you thought of that..."

Director Lee Ho-joon's behind-the-scenes release, "I didn't get a text message from NC during the PS period, and I can't believe you thought of that..."

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Lee Ho-joon (48), the new NC Dinos coach who returned to his home after three years, expressed his feelings about his debut as a head coach.

Coach Lee, who contacted Star News on the 22nd, said, "As a former NC player, I'm so honored and proud to be the first coach," adding, "I thought I should prepare well to make it a prestigious club."안전놀이터

NC announced on the day that it signed a three-year contract with Lee for up to 1.4 billion won (1.5 million U.S. dollars). Details of the contract include a down payment of 300 million won (300 million won for the first and second years, 350 million won for the third year), and an option of 150 million won (10,800 dollars). The result came after more than a month of appointment since the managerial seat became vacant on Nov. 20.

After graduating from Gwangju Jeil High School, Lee joined the Haitai Tigers in 1994 and started his professional career by changing from a pitcher to a batter. He transferred to the SK Wyverns (current SSG Landers) in a trade during the 2000 season, and joined NC through an FA contract in 2013. He played in 2,053 games with a batting average of 0.282, 337 homers, 1265 RBIs, 943 runs and an OPS of 0.853.

Notably, Lee joined NC, a new team, and contributed greatly to the team's fast establishment in the first division. He hit 0.278 with 20 home runs in the 2013 season, taking the lead in the batting average. Since then, he has contributed to advancing to the Korean Series for the first time (2016) by achieving 20 home runs for four consecutive years until 2016. In 2017, he ended his 24-year career by enjoying the honor of becoming the first player to retire in the club's history.

After retirement, Lee received training as a coach for the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese professional baseball league in 2018, and joined the team as a batting coach in 2019. He had an honorable moment by winning the team's first combined championship in 2020. He then served as the LG Twins batting coach and quality control coach from 2022 to May 2024, and served as LG's chief coach from May this year.
Coach Lee Ho-joon when he was a coach at LG.
"I had an interview yesterday (21st) and had a conversation for about two hours," Lee said. "I received the final call today (22nd)." "It was all done in one night and two days," Lee said.

Lim Seon-nam, the NC Dinosaurs' general manager, said in early October that the postseason was in progress, "We can't just proceed with our schedule because we have other people's schedules. So we don't want to, but it's taking some time." This could be interpreted as meaning that the managerial candidate is in the fall baseball team. And Lee from LG, who actually made it to the playoffs, was selected.

"Believe it or not, I didn't get any text messages from NC until the end of the playoffs," Lee said. "On the other hand, I was grateful. I would have been unable to concentrate on the game if I had contacted him (during the postseason), but he also thought about that," Lee said. In fact, NC reportedly decided on its final coach candidate on the 20th, the day after the end of the playoffs.

"I was happy to sign the contract because I and the team leader agreed on many different opinions," Lee said. Notably, Lim talked about the direction even before the team asked him about the direction, but Lim said, "I felt that we had a lot to communicate with each other." Lee also said, "I was interested in (NC) because there were 50 percent of the players I had taught for the past three years. When I looked at them naturally, they just came out when we talked."

In the history of NC Dinosaurs, which was founded in 2012, Lee became the No. 1 coach who was a former player of the team. "I was honored to be No. 1, and I was able to take pride in it," Lee said. "On the other hand, I feel responsible and mixed emotions." "As an NC player, I am so honored and proud to be the No. 1 coach," he said.

Since Lee has been a coach for such a long time, there are still many players who were teammates at the time. Park Min-woo (31), who was the youngest when he joined the team, is wearing the captain's armband, while Choi Sung-young (27) and Kim Jin-ho (26), who are in their mid and late 20s, were also players during the same period as Lee. "When I watched it, I thought, 'He's already an old man,' and I think I need to treat him accordingly," he said. "It's a relief that we can match each other's tendencies."

Although he has been a leader for six years, the weight of being a coach was different. "Other coaches say, 'The coach takes all responsibility, and if you win the game, the player wins because he does well, and if you lose, the coach loses because he lost,' and that came to mind today," Lee said. "I thought I could achieve what I wanted to give trust by keeping 100% of what I said in my mouth."

Now, Lee has to form a new team of coaches to be with him. "I delivered it to the team," Lee said. "What surprised me was that 99.9 percent of the team members agreed with me. I was so surprised. I was the coach that I was thinking of as well." "If it goes well, (new coaches) will be able to come to the ballpark on Saturday."

Finally, manager Lee said to NC fans, "I'm so happy to meet passionate fans again. Of course, I'll be criticized when I don't do well in the future, but I'm sure if you cheer me up when I do well, I'll have a good result. If you come to the ballpark and support me like now, I'll cheer up and work hard."