OWL: New York Excelsior Announce 2022 Coaching Staff
| Tags: Overwatch
| Author Joseph Shay
NYXL announce their leadership for 2022
The New York Excelsior have announced their coaching staff for the 2022 season, to a large majority positive response. Three of the four staff members finished the 2021 season with the Excelsior, with one new member joining the team.
Leadership in New York
Their diligence and brilliance behind the scenes is sure to shine through on the big stage: introducing our coaching staff for the 2022 season.
Head Coach: @KukiOW
Assistant Coach: @UndineOW
General Manager: @arqnuGget
Player Manager: @Unknown_0771#EverUpward | #OWL2022 pic.twitter.com/JaBVXNSqmA— NY Excelsior (@NYExcelsior) January 19, 2022
Former Seoul Dynasty and Los Angeles Valiant Main Tank Dae-Kuk “KuKi” Kim is coming on as the new Head Coach. He now follows up Juhyeop “WhyNot” Lee who spent two seasons with the Excelsior as they've declined. Kuki has spent the last two years coaching.
After winning Contenders Korea 2019 Season 2, he was quickly picked up by the Florida Mayhem as their Head Coach. He was quick to prove himself, but the Mayhem still have not been able to find a grip as a top team since the league began. Hopefully for New York this speaks more about management in Florida, and not KuKi himself.
Alongside KuKi will be New York’s 2021 saving grace. Young-woo “Undine” Son joined the team during the last half of the 2021 season, and immediately showed his impact. Upon his entry, the Excelsior optimized their playstyle for things that fit their team rather than the meta. The 2021 season proved just about any hero or composition to be viable if played right.
Seeing Undine thrive in that environment should excite fans for what he can bring the team in a brand new game. Overwatch 2 will likely start as an open playing field, which seemed to be exactly Undine’s specialty.
For the managerial staff, New York will be keeping three year General Manager Yohan “nuGget” Kim and 2021 Player Manager Minseong “Unknown” Kim. The two were certainly a big part of the recent roster pickups announced by the team, so New York should be very grateful to them before the season even begins.
All staff besides nuGget are pictured wearing jerseys featuring their names. We can only hope this means that teams will be able to more readily produce and distribute jerseys in the 2022 season.
Joseph is Production Director and Writer with experience in the esports field. He has coached Overwatch teams in North American and Pacific Contenders, and has been an avid esports fan for years now. Outside of esports and media, he is a Creative Writing major based out of Virginia, USA.