Team Liquid named Damian “daps” Steele as the new coach of their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team on Monday.
The move comes one day after Liquid benched previous coach Eric “adreN” Hoag and rifler Richard “shox” Papillon.
“Welcome our new coach @daps! A veteran of CS:GO, we’re excited to bring his leadership, motivation and structure to put NA back on top,” the team wrote on Twitter.
Welcome our new coach @daps!
A veteran of CS:GO, we're excited to bring his leadership, motivation and structure to put NA back on top #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/P68XuQ4QuE— Team Liquid CSGO (@TeamLiquidCS) June 20, 2022
daps is returning to the professional scene after taking a break following his stint with the Orgless project he founded.
The 28-year-old Canadian previously guided NRG Esports before they became Evil Geniuses. He also played with Cloud9 and Gen.G before serving as the Evil Geniuses’ coach beginning in June 2021.
A 30-year-old Frenchman, shox joined the Liquid roster in December 2021 after stints with Team Vitality and G2 Esports, among others.
A 32-year-old American, adreN coached Liquid from 2015-16 and again from 2018-20 before resuming that role in May 2021 after playing for Mythic.
The remaining members of Liquid’s active roster are Canada’s Keith “NAF” Markovic and Americans Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Joshua “oSee” Ohm and Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella.
The team’s next scheduled event is Intel Extreme Masters XVII – Cologne starting on July 5.
–Field Level Media