In recent years, many analysts and commentators from VETV have transitioned to coaching roles in various VCS teams. With a background as Esports commentators, they surely have different perspectives and insights on League of Legends compared to traditional coaches who are trained or have risen from former professional players.
However, reality has shown that differences sometimes do not yield effective results; such “amateur” coaches have largely not achieved outstanding success and have not remained long-term with the teams they lead. The longest-serving coach was Minh Hảo – Aci when he joined FFQ (later known as Lowkey Esports) about a year before parting ways with the team after the 2019 World Championship.
Notably, in Minh Hảo’s case, he seems to lack the respect or authority typically expected of a coach from the team members. Immediately after Minh Hảo left Lowkey Esports, his former students took to social media to expose and mock the term “visionary coach” that was attributed to him.
Not as unfortunate as Minh Hảo, but commentator Ling Cao Thủ also left no mark when joining Dashing Buffalo as a coach. Whether it was bad luck or fate’s design, Ling Cao Thủ arrived at DBL just as they lost their star player Zeros, and even the team’s substitute top laner was not old enough to compete, forcing them to move Raizo (later renamed Hassmed) from AD carry to top lane.
Although this rising star had a few good matches, placing too much responsibility and somewhat forcing a 17-year-old boy to mature quickly caused DBL to lose direction and not achieve high results, finishing only 4th in VCS Summer 2019. Shortly after, Ling Cao Thủ also parted ways with the “red buffaloes”.
The most regrettable among amateur coaches must be Yuna or Safety, a legend of League of Legends as well as Vietnamese Esports. Not starting as a commentator, Yuna was an analyst for VETV, so his expertise is unquestionable. In fact, during the summer of 2019, the biggest transfer for GAM Esports was not Zeros or Levi, but bringing Yuna on board as head coach.
The victory in VCS Summer 2019 was an outstanding achievement, that cannot be denied; however, their disappointing performance at the 2019 World Championship led to significant criticism of GAM Esports and the entire coaching staff. The loss to Team Flash in the VCS Spring 2020 finals marked a sad end to the relationship between GAM Esports and not only Yuna but also the coaching team including Tinikun, Iris, Captain Văn Tùng…
As BLV Hoàng Luân once said on stream, “VETV will always welcome you back,” those like Minh Hảo, Ling Cao Thủ, or Captain Văn Tùng, after a period of unsuccessful coaching, have returned to commentary roles. As for Yuna, he will likely seek a new home as the summer tournament approaches.