The Overwatch League Grand Finals ended three days ago and teams are already making big changes heading into 2023. While players are often the first to be let go, sometimes restructuring needs to happen from the top down.
The Vancouver Titans announced today the organization would be parting ways with its head coach, David “dpei” Pei. Dpei joined the team in the middle of the 2022 season and helped the long-suffering roster earn its first win of the year.
Though Vancouver is no stranger to upending Overwatch rosters and rebuilding in pursuit of success, the loss of dpei is an unexpected change for the organization.
By the time dpei was hired as head coach in mid-July of this year, the Titans were still hunting for their first win of the 2022 season. A few weeks passed with the same results, but Vancouver eventually took a win against the Paris Eternal and continued that success in the Summer Showdown tournament cycle.
The team even made an appearance at the Summer Showdown LAN event in Toronto, having secured three wins throughout the cycle, enough to qualify for the event. It was a nice surprise for Titans fans, though the team was later taken out by the Florida Mayhem.
Over that short time period, the Titans suddenly looked like a team on an upward trajectory instead of one with wasted potential. They ended the season with a 5-19 regular season record, which is a big improvement from the team’s abysmal 1-15 2021 season record.
Many analysts and fans attributed that late-season success to dpei, who previously coached the Los Angeles Gladiators for nearly four years.
Vancouver has yet to announce any player drops or additions, but the offseason is just kicking off.
