The former head coach of Cloud9’s VALORANT team has a new home and his destination was inadvertently revealed today by Riot Games rather than the organization.
James “JamezIRL” Macaulay has signed with North American partnered team 100 Thieves, according to the global contract database, which collects all contract information for participating partnered teams. 100T is yet to announce the signing.
The capacity of his signing is unknown, but he will likely join the organization as an assistant coach. Former assistant coach Michael “Mikes” Hockom was promoted to the head coach role in October.
JamezIRL is signed until 2024, while the rest of the starting lineup and Mikes are signed through 2025. He is listed as a player under the database but it’s likely he’ll fill the sixth player quota set by Riot following Champions earlier this year. Partnered teams were required to sign six players prior to an initial deadline in October.
But teams can sign up to 10 players and teams have until Feb. 1 to complete all signings. This means 100 Thieves will likely sign a sixth player prior to February to move JamezIRL to the assistant coaching staffing role. This remains speculation, however.
100 Thieves underwent a significant coaching change over the offseason. On Oct. 19, former head coach and prominent commentator Sean Gares stepped down from the position to pursue content creation. The announcement, made by team manager Daniel “ddk” Kapadia, saw the promotion of Mikes.
Keen-eyed fans also found that JamezIRL was spotted in a lobby with the rest of 100 Thieves over two weeks ago.
