The new coach of OK Savings Bank is Shin Young-cheol.
OK Savings Bank's volleyball team noted on the 24th, "We have appointed Shin Young-cheol (61) as the new head coach." Coach Shin is expected to lead the OK Hee-man volleyball team as its fourth head coach in history.
The new coach was announced four days after former coach Ogino Masashi's voluntary resignation on the 20th. OK Savings Bank explained the reasons for appointing Shin, saying, "We judged him as the right person because he has years of leadership experience and expertise, and has proven his abilities in the rebuilding of the team."
The team stated, "We are annually identifying the status of coaches by listing excellent foreign coaches from Europe and Japan, as well as domestic coaches. We meticulously reviewed domestic and international candidates we have confirmed to appoint a new coach who can transform and elevate the team, which finished at the bottom in the 2024-2025 season."
Shin has received recognition for his leadership while coaching LIG Insurance (currently KB Insurance), Korean Air, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and Woori Card. He is known as a "researching coach," pursuing data-driven team management, successfully leading all teams he coached to the postseason, showcasing his role as a "spring volleyball evangelist," and achieving results in rebuilding teams multiple times, including leading them to the championship finals three times.
Shin's first meeting with the OK Hee-man players will be in April. A team official said, "Coach Shin is scheduled to meet with the players at the end of April" and "will discuss the Asian quota and the recruitment of foreign players."
Shin is also adept at developing setters and is expected to positively influence the future development of the setter team in OK Hee-man volleyball.
OK Savings Bank finished at the bottom last season. They dropped significantly from 3rd place in the 2023-2024 season.
However, there were aspects where Ogino performed well. He introduced a new training system different from the existing one, implanting advanced foreign volleyball culture into the team while also leading internal changes in volleyball.
In particular, he emphasized the blocking-dig connection system from the outset, meticulously establishing it to enhance defensive capabilities while minimizing errors for effective volleyball.
However, the offense weakened after Leo (Hyundai Capital) departed. The newly selected foreign player ahead of the 2024-2025 season performed poorly, causing issues with team offense, compounded by the injury of Zhang Binglong, who was an Asian quota player during the season, leading to a challenging season.
Therefore, much attention is focused on the reinforcement structure, such as the Asian quota and foreign player recruitment, which will be actively discussed at the end of April when Coach Shin joins.
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