Kim “SSONG” Sang-soo will apparently no longer be TSM’s head coach, according to a report by esports media outlet esportsheaven. Ham “Lustboy” Jang-sik, the team’s former support and current secondary coach, will take over as head coach until further notice.
We cross-referenced this report with the league-recognized League of Legends esports contract database, on which Ssong is no longer listed under the TSM roster.
This sort of change isn’t terribly shocking. TSM missed the split finals last spring for the first time since the LCS officially began 11 splits ago. In fact, they even missed the semifinals due to being knocked out in the first round by Clutch Gaming. This split, things aren’t really looking any better. They kicked off the first week with an impressive 2-0 record, but didn’t win a single game during the second week—not in their rematch against Clutch or their grudge match against Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng on Team Liquid.
TSM is a championship team, and when the situation becomes desperate enough, championship teams make big changes to try to bounce back. The NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers did it halfway through the 2017-2018 season by gutting half their roster right before the trade deadline, and they ended up making it all the way to the finals. If TSM has their way, this coaching shift will do the same for them.
This does seem like the right move, too. This roster should be an all-star team. Top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, and bot lane duo Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez and Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen have all recently been the best players in their regions for their respective roles. Even Jonathan “Grig” Armao, the team’s second jungler, has been performing better than Mike Yeung did for most of the last split. And yet, they just can’t seem to make it work.
It seems like the team is almost never on the same page. They still have the same issues they showcased at Worlds and MSI last year, too, including lacking proactivity, aggression, and in-game confidence. All of those issues, combined with the fact that the players should be some of the best in their field, point toward an issue with player management rather than with mechanical skill or strategy, and a coaching change fits the bill.
TSM’s first game this weekend is against Cloud9 on Saturday, June 30 at 4pm CT, who have also been struggling so far in 2018.
