"We must lift the trophy together as coaches, too."
Yang Dong-geun, head coach of professional basketball's Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, senior coach Park Gu-young, and coach Ham Ji-hoon—all "one-club men"—spoke with one voice as they met with The Seoul Economic Daily at the Hyundai Mobis practice gym in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on the 2nd of this month.
The three, reunited as a coaching staff, all spent their playing careers exclusively with Hyundai Mobis. They understand each other so well they can read one another's minds with just a glance. In particular, they were the key figures who together achieved professional basketball's first-ever "three-peat" (three consecutive championship series titles) during their playing days. The legends who led Hyundai Mobis's golden era have become coaches and reunited as one team off the court.
Ham joined the team as the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2007 rookie draft and, aside from his military service period, played exclusively for Hyundai Mobis for a remarkable 18 seasons through the 2025-2026 season. Yang (2004-2020) and senior coach Park Gu-young (2007-2018) also began and ended their careers with Hyundai Mobis.
The "newcomer" to the coaching staff is Ham, who retired at the end of last season and was formally appointed as a coach on the 30th of last month. Spending his first week as a coach, Ham said, "Until recently I was training alongside them, but now my role is to watch and advise the players, so it still feels awkward. I'm learning everything from A to Z by watching Coach Yang and Coach Park. I'll adapt quickly and help the team as much as I can."
Yang, who watches Ham's new beginning most closely, expressed deep trust. "The scene I vaguely dreamed of during my playing days has become reality, and I'm happy and grateful," Yang said, adding, "I haven't given him anything special to do yet, but I'm not worried at all. He knows the role he must play better than anyone." He continued, praising Ham: "Ji-hoon is the type who explains things really well to the players. His greatest strength is that he generously passes on the know-how he has."
Park, who entered Hyundai Mobis in the same rookie class as Ham, offered his own firm backing. "Ji-hoon is really a fool who knows nothing but basketball. Right now he's a rookie at administrative work—he even struggles with transferring files to an external hard drive—but that's how much he has lived looking only at basketball. That's exactly why he's even more reliable. He'll be a huge strength to the team," he said.
Ham's goal is clear: to restart Hyundai Mobis's championship clock, which stopped at the end of the 2018-2019 season. "The senior coaches told me that lifting the trophy as a coach feels much better than as a player. I want to lift the championship trophy once again with Hyundai Mobis. The sooner that day comes, the better."
