LCS: Doublelift Bashed NA’s Mindset So Here’s 5 Ways Teams Can Fix It

4. Empower Coaches More

All of these steps are dependent on North American teams doing something that they have thus far been reticent to do: give their coaches more power. In the LCS, it seems that power is divided between the players, coaches, and owners. This creates an issue where owners will override coaches decisions or players will go around the coach.

If NA wants to be taken seriously, coaches need to be given full autonomy to control the practice conditions, lineup, scrim and game strategies, and other decisions relating to the day-to-day operations of the team. The coaches and general manager should really only serve to supervise the coach, not to override his tactical decisions.

This is a problem I noted regarding TSM’s structure and philosophy last year (and with the addition of Doublelift, who is dating the president of the team, it’s safe to say that philosophy hasn’t changed), but it is hardly unique to them. Moreover, the fact that so many coaches are being questioned for their game knowledge and credentials (whether valid or not) undermines their power.

To fix this, once again, I would advise that teams and coaches explicitly lay out in the coach’s contract what duties he will or will not be responsible for. Coaches should have similar incentive and penalty structures as players, but there should also be some assurance that ownership and management will not interfere in the day-to-day operations.