100 Thieves Hire Zikz as League of Legends Head Coach
Preparing for the 2020 Season
Last week, Esports Talk reported that 100 Thieves parted ways with their first head coach, “Pr0lly”. Today we learned that Neil “Pr0lly” Hammad was replaced by Tony “Zikz” Gray as the new head coach. 100 Thieves is gearing up to storm League of Legends hard in 2020. With that in mind they wanted Team SoloMid’s former coach.
100 Thieves also hired a new League of Legends general manager, Christopher “Papasmithy” Smith back in September. Papasmithy is a former color commentator, with a wealth of knowledge. It will be interesting to see how he will effect the team in 2020.
Welcome @Zikzlol, our new League of Legends Head Coach!
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) November 11, 2019
Zikz is one of the most well-respected coaches in the scene, earning 2x LCS Championship titles & a 2nd place at MSI. We're so excited to bring his experience to 100 Thieves & look forward to building 2020 with him! #100T pic.twitter.com/680SPxF5Wu
Papasmithy recently spoke to ESPN about choosing Zikz:
“Pretty early on, we identified that we wanted a new direction with coaching staff. Coming straight from casting in Korea, I really wanted to find a [North American] coach who knows the scene really well, has a lot of player respect and understands what players are like behind the camera. Zikz was my first choice as head coach for the project I want to build in 2020, focusing on culture and growth. We have a lot of roster building to do these coming weeks, and I’m so excited to work alongside him at 100 Thieves.”
Despite a poor showing this year, 100 Thieves can completely turn things around next season. The LCS team are fan-favorites, and we’re looking forward to seeing what awaits 100 Thieves in 2020 with Zikz on board. At this point, we can only speculate who they have their eyes on right now.
History in the League
Zikz isn’t new to the game by any means. Getting his start as an analyst for Counter Logic Gaming, and moved up to the role of coach. As the new coach for 100 Thieves, we are eager to see what Zikz and Papasmithy can do together. With a new coach, comes a new chance to succeed.
In the article on ESPN.com, Zikz discusses what brought him around:
“What drew me the most to 100 Thieves was the opportunity to work with Papasmithy. His philosophies on running a team and building a roster aligned with me so well that this decision was very, very easy to make. At TSM, I didn’t feel this strong alignment and it’s something I really look forward to at 100 Thieves. What excites me the most about the future is that 100 Thieves has a completely clean slate and we get to really sculpt what this team and its culture will look like for 2020 and beyond.”
If the goal is to shake up the squad and prepare for 2020 and beyond as they say, I like to see that they have acquired two serious talents on the management/coaching side of things. As the off-season rolls on, I’m sure we’ll see some other major announcements for 100 Thieves.
Who do you envision joining the squad? We’d love to hear about it!
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