Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty has officially announced on Twitter that he is no longer coaching Sentinels. The announcement came at 4:50 PM ET on Saturday, minutes after Sentinels lost their first map against OpTic Gaming in the third week of VALORANT Champions Tour North America Stage 1 13-2.
No longer Coaching Sentinels
Read: https://t.co/F6PFgcvZDh
— Rawkus (@Rawkus) February 26, 2022
The tweet links to a Twitlonger that explains the situation. Rawkus wrote that after FaZe Clan, which he was part of as a player, was eliminated from the Last Chance Qualifier, Sentinels offered him the chance to coach the team for VALORANT Champions 2021. Sentinels and FaZe Clan then worked out a deal wherein Rawkus would be loaned to Sentinels until Jan. 1, at which point the teams entered talks to make Rawkus the full-time Sentinels coach. However, a deal was not reached, with Rawkus citing “buyout complications.”
Rawkus stated that he will be changing all his team branding back to FaZe Clan, but there are “no intentions from either side” to keep him on at this time. He then went on to say that he wants to return to being a pro player and is actively looking for a team, despite currently being contractually tied to FaZe.
In an addendum to his original tweet, Rawkus wrote that “he [hasn’t] been a part of anything related [to] the team in the past 2 weeks.” Sentinels had a shaky Week 1 and Week 2 in VCT NA; they played close games against both NRG Esports and Knights, both of whom have been struggling in their own right.
note I haven't been a part of anything related the team in the past 2 weeks
— Rawkus (@Rawkus) February 26, 2022
Sentinels have long been regarded as the best VALORANT team in North America, but some of that luster faded after they underperformed at Champions 2021, where they failed to make it out of the group stage. Now they’re looking to make their way back up to the top, but with their only coach departing the team, that climb is going to be a little more difficult.
At the time of writing, no replacement has been announced. Sentinels famously did not have a coach at all until Rawkus joined the team in Nov. 2021.
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