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"Starting in Week 7, NA LCS teams have the option to register a second coach (or analyst) on stage during the pick/ban phase (termed a "Strategic Coach") with the Head Coach."

Riot·8/1/2018, 9:01:10 PM·2 votes·14,124 views

Chris “Riot Commish” Greeley here—I am the Commissioner of the NA LCS and I manage League Operations for the NA LCS and Academy League. I’m here to share some visibility and context of a new pilot program coming to the NA LCS this week.

Starting in Week 7, NA LCS teams have the option to register a second coach (or analyst) onstage during the pick/ban phase (termed a "Strategic Coach") with the Head Coach. The Strategic Coach will be on comms and will be able to talk to the Head Coach and players to assist in pick/ban. Similar to the Head Coach, the Strategic Coach cannot talk to anyone off-stage. This is an NA-only pilot program that will take place for the rest of split (including Finals) and will extend to Academy playoffs when they are onstage.

Why are you implementing this pilot now?

In our ongoing conversations with teams about how we can continue to improve the league, the topic of challenges related to the pick/ban phase were raised. After discussing various options to improve decision-making capabilities during champion selection, teams asked us if it was possible to just add a second person, instead of having to replace their Head Coach.

After some internal discussion, we agreed that trying it as a pilot program for the rest of this split (including Finals) made sense. The expectation is that with an additional coach involved in the pick/ban process, teams can develop stronger strategies and better develop their skills around the pick/ban process.  

Will we see Strategic Coaches at international competitions? How about other regions?

Right now, this is an NA-only pilot, so it will not extend to international events like Worlds. Before moving forward with the pilot, we were clear with NA LCS teams that this pilot will not extend to international events.

We have given visibility on this change to several other regions. Everyone (including us) is interested to see how this limited test turns out.

Are NA LCS teams required to send up a Strategic Coach for every game?

Teams can send up a Strategic Coach sometimes, but are not required to send a Strategic Coach up every time (or at all). We don’t intend to let teams swap this position around during the pilot program, absent some emergency, but will work with our teams for 2019 about how this role should operate if it is determined that this is worth continuing.

What are next steps with Strategic Coach? Will they be added to Lolesports and Global Contract Database?

There are no plans through the duration of this pilot program to add anyone else to the Global Contract Database or Lolesports.com this split. We will be evaluating the effectiveness of this change through the remainder of the Summer Split and will reconvene with teams in the off-season to consider this for the entirety of the 2019 NA LCS season, as well as how Strategic Coaches can best be integrated into the NA LCS.

Chris “Riot Commish” Greeley is the Commissioner of the NA LCS and ran League Operations for MSI and Worlds in 2017. He is a recovering lawyer from New York City who can’t write a rulebook in less than 50 pages. He channeled years of raiding on his Resto Druid into life in the bottom lane dropping wards and shooting glitterlances. You can find him on Twitter and Reddit as @IAmGrza.
 

13 Comments

Flamargalarg8/3/2018, 8:46:24 AM3 votes

Korea has ALWAYS had multiple coaches. Why do we limit ourselves? Like, why back to single games? Korea and China get more practice, they adapt better. They get more coaches, more time, more games. No wonder they win.

Stained Spear8/2/2018, 5:16:07 AM3 votes

LCK has a similar thing currently where they have 2 or 3 coaches for pick and ban. On SKT for example I know Bengi joins to talk with the team for picks.

F1oof8/1/2018, 10:04:07 PM2 votes

I think this is great. In an NBA game the head coach has a row of assistants next to him AND a row of assistants sitting the row behind him. These are complicated complex team games and allowing teams to better utilize their non-player/HC staff is a positive trend, I believe, for RIOT, the NALCS, and esports generally speaking.

Eggr8/8/2018, 5:38:45 AM1 votes

I think this is step in right direction. I can't wait until they finally allow a coach to be on stage/coms during the match. "Bad communication" seems to be such a chronic excuse for poor performance(s), if a coach could do the shot calling and the players could focus on their mechanics it would elevate the caliber of play across the board.

Flemman8/1/2018, 9:51:20 PM1 votes

I feel like this change only make all the NA head coach look pretty bad.

I mean, if a head coach doesn't know the win condition, why is he on stage on the first place

Musicfreak938/8/2018, 1:48:24 PM1 votes

Guys! There’s still a world in which C9 gets first seed for playoffs!! Let’s go C9!!!

Ravens69698/2/2018, 12:40:04 AM1 votes

I'll tell you one thing. CLG gonna need about 10 Strategic coaches if they ever wanna become consistent in anything other than losing.

Stomp The Man8/2/2018, 3:01:20 AM1 votes

Interesting change. I wonder which teams will benefit the most from this. Sometimes too many voices can be bad. I wonder if there will ever be a time when the head coach will be on voice coms for the whole game itself. The shotcaller title would disappear and would basically be adding a 6th man. Maybe 10 years from now. . . NAWwwww . . .