From the Newsstands: This story appeared in The Eagle's December 2023 print edition. You can find the digital version here.
“I love you, Kim!” Before every home game for American University’s volleyball team, a fan from the stands screams out their excitement at seeing the Eagles’ head coach, Ahen Kim. In his first year in the role, Kim is making his impact on the community.
“It’s an evolving answer,” Kim said when asked why he coaches. With a background in academic counseling and social work, he finds fulfillment in coaching by watching his athletes grow.
Kim got his start as an assistant coach in the early 2010s — Catholic University in 2009, George Washington in 2010 and Houston Baptist in 2011 — before settling down at American in 2012. Kim spent five years as an assistant coach at American under legendary head coach Barry Goldberg.
In 2017, Brown University hired Kim for their head coaching job. Under Kim, the Bears won the Ivy League Championship in 2021, posting a 20-6 record. Kim won the honor of Ivy League Coach of the Year that season. Kim left Brown to coach a professional team in South Korea in 2022.
After Goldberg passed away in 2023, Kim made his return to the Eagles in June. He had just two months to get to know and bond with his team before their season began.
“Creating sustainability in a program is the goal,” Kim said of his return to American. Kim pounced on the opportunity to come back. It was a good fit for his family, and wanted to come back to a place he loved to coach.
Kim said that he wants to carry forward coach Goldberg’s legacy, keeping the philosophy that every player is worthy of love, win or lose.
Junior libero Bridget Javitch was close to Goldberg throughout his time as her coach, and expressed appreciation for Kim during a difficult transition.
“It was an emotional crossover to transfer coaches in this way,” Javitch said. “Our entire team continues to miss coach Barry, but we’re motivated to play for coach Kim the same way we played for coach Barry.”
Graduate student outside hitter Zeynep Uzen noted the motivation Kim brings to the team. “Since [Kim] got here, he’s been pushing us really hard,” she said. “I’m glad we have a coach like him, one who pushes us to win a lot of hard-fought games.”
It’s hard to follow in the footsteps of a widely loved community figure like Goldberg. Rather than trying to emulate exactly what Goldberg did for the program, Kim hopes to take Goldberg’s legacy and move the team onto a new path — one that recognizes and fondly remembers the past, but also looks forward to the future — both immediate and distant.
“I’m obsessed with this sport,” Kim said. He added that while he achieved his goal at Brown, building a program that had assistant coaches hired out as head coaches to other schools, he “wanted to leave systems at Brown that lasted long past when I was there, a place where sustained success could happen.”
Kim’s ultimate goal is to reward the community that comes out to see the team, and to build a program that “give[s] student athletes a genuinely competitive experience.”
One of the lessons Kim tries to instill in his players is becoming a leader for other people on the team, even if they’re not getting playing time. “You have to realize you’re not the main character in this story,” Kim said. “Leadership comes when you’re trying to be the best supporting character in another person’s story.”
For Kim, making an impact on his players is the most rewarding thing about his job.
“Coaching is about being a lifegiver, seeing people grow.”
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing done by Isabelle Kravis and Luna Jinks.
