SUMMARY: A head coach determines to make sure that his professional basketball team reaches the playoffs. Their morale is low because it’s been 3 years in a row, they failed. But he got help from an unlikely person.
In “A Head Coach’s Turnover”, Maeng Gong, in his prime, was an awesome basketball player, but he is also a family man. He stopped being a player and started being a coach to spend more time with his daughter. His daughter is not well and requires medical treatment that includes a stay in the hospital. Maeng Gong was the coach of a winning basketball team, but for reasons unknown, he switched and started coaching another team. Everybody said he left for the money.
Even if he did leave for the money, the new team he is coaching keeps losing. For three years, they failed to reach the playoffs. His boss wants him to resign, and it’s not just his boss. Haters are posting comments online with no proof to back up their statements. Since he never publicly disclosed his reasons for switching. Even his daughter doesn’t know. People took to social media, posting hate comments and calling for him to resign as coach. Maeng Gong filed a legal complaint and had the “haters” investigated. They were identified, and he let them off with a warning, but told them if they continued posting, the next time he would not be lenient.
But there was this one guy. His user name was “Maeng Gong Extinction Squad”, and Coach Maeng Gong was not willing to show him leniency. His comments were particularly brutal, and he posted the most hateful comments calling for the coach’s resignation. He’s a high schooler and his real name is Go Hwa-jin. Maeng Gong’s assistant coach pointed out that not all of his comments were hate-based. Unlike the other haters, Go Hwa-jin, alias “Maeng Gong Extinction Squad”, followed the game closely. He posted about the players, including the mistakes they made and what they could have done better. But he also posted that the poor performance is directly related to the poor coaching. The coach loses his temper too much and discourages the player instead of encouraging team spirit.
Go Hwa-jin says he knows a surefire way to get the team to win. Maeng Gong will lose his job if he doesn’t get his team to make it to the playoffs. In desperation, he teams up with his biggest online hater in the hopes that together, they can turn the team’s fate around.
My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewing audience.
Don’t forget these other K-dramas with sport themes:
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KOCOWA TV. [NOW STREAMING] His Biggest Hater Becomes His Best Assist! | A Head Coach’s Turnover (2025). [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiFqfGTPItQ
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