Cloud9’s coaching staff is three members shorter as Mithy, Reignover and Westrice depart, leaving the org room to bring in new faces. (Image by Michal Konkol/Riot Games)
In the midst of some serious roster changes, C9 is looking to revamp their entire LCS side ahead of the 2022 season. Today, Cloud9 bids farewell to LCS Head Coach Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodríguez, LCS Assistant Coach Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin and Academy Head Coach Jonathan "Westrice" Nguyen.
Many will remember Mithy from his time on teams like G2 Esports and TSM. However, he began his coaching career with Fnatic back in 2019 before joining Cloud9 in 2020.
Since he's become Cloud9 Mithy, he's led the team to a Mid-Season Shodown Victory as well as MSI and Worlds appearances. He's been a large part of C9's domestic success throughout the past two seasons.
Next up is Reignover, who is another player-turned-coach who is fondly remembered for his times on Fnatic and Immortals especially. He started off coaching under Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu in 2019, then became Head Coach for C9 Academy for a bit after that.
But he wasn't meant to stay there forever. In 2021, he returned to coaching the main LCS squad alongside Mithy. Together, they produced great results which helped them reach the World Championship yet again.
Last but not least is Westrice, who has been a mainstay of the organization for a while. He began coaching all the way back in 2017, when he coached a team during the NA Scouting Grounds.
Soon after that, he linked up with C9 and started as the Academy Head Coach. He had a stint where he worked under Reapered with the main team as well, though he primarily stuck with Academy. Here, he had great results, with multiple championship titles and a whole slew of top four placements.
Cloud9's direction for 2022
With a nearly bare coaching lineup currently, Cloud9 has some work to do before the season starts. There are rumors that popular coach and analyst Nick “LS” De Cesare may be filling the Cloud9 Head Coach position Mithy left vacant, though there's no official word on any replacements yet.
Either way, it'll be interesting to see how things shake up for C9. They officially parted ways with Luka "Perkz" Perković already this offseason, and there are rumors that their starting roster will be very different from this year.
Despite having a pretty good 2021, C9 is once again opting for big offseason moves and fresh faces. It seems to be their recipe for success time after time, so fans should be excited to see where they go in LCS 2022.