After his football career he became a coach at Honam University before being offered the chance to become a trainer with the newly formed Ilhwa Chunma team in the K-League.

[5] However it wasn't until 2002 when Lee Jang-soo had moved to Qingdao Beilaite that he rose to prominace within China and won the Chinese FA Cup with them.

Back in South Korea Lee Jang-soo would quickly find a team to coach with Chunnam Dragons and subsequently FC Seoul where he led them both to a Championship playoffs spot.

[7] On 25 March 2010, Lee was hired by Guangzhou Evergrande, who was newly relegated to China League One for match-fixing scandal, as the team's new manager.

He also set the club's record for longest unbeaten streak in the league with 32 wins and 12 draws, which was ended on 18 September after losing to Changchun Yatai 2–1.