How to get a Scholarship for League of Legends! Interview with 2016-2018 Michigan State University Coach Kyle Kilponen

We reached out to Kyle Kilponen, former head coach of Michigan State University’s League of Legends team 2016-2018, about what it’s like to play video games for your college. Kyle was kind enough to answer our questions and provide a lot of good insight for aspiring collegiate League of Legends players. This is timely with the RSAA announcing that they are expanding the size and investment with college league of legends for 2020. Here's what Kyle had to say.





TryHarder: How good do you have to be to be on the squad? How do you define good?

Kyle: MSU typically runs two rosters each year: an “A” team and a “B” team. The A team competes in CLol, assorted LANs, and other high-tier competitive leagues (Upsurge, Bloody Gaming, etc). The A team is at least D1 average and represents MSU at the highest level of competition. The B team will compete in Collegiate Starleague, some LANs and online leagues that are often a step below the A team, and typically consists of players who are about Diamond 3 average. Versatility is huge- you can’t really be a one trick or you’ll get banned out every game. I look at a first-person view of how a player plays: how they take in information and respond in game. This lets me see how the player thinks as well as what they are and are not seeing. Soft skills – like communication and leadership skills – are huge in this environment. As a coach, I’m not allowed to step into the game and make calls, so players have to be able to work together to come to a common solution and be able to take in information quickly and respond accordingly.





TryHarder: How much money is available? I know no varsity for MSU, but is there anything? Any perks?

Kyle: 6 Players in the BTN League receive $5k in scholarship. There is also a staff scholarship that is either $5k to one person or split between two (Editor's note: The RSAA is changing this format for 2020). The team organization typically will fund jerseys and travel to events for players. The farthest I’ve traveled with the team was Indiana- but the team did travel to LA last year and opportunities are always available.





TryHarder: What's the process like for joining the team?

Kyle: MSU is a fully student managed program. Applications to try out for the team typically open up in August or early September and are open to students who are full-time students in good academic standing and can prove that they have been at least Diamond in ranking. This rank requirement has risen over the years from Plat 5, now up to Diamond 4 in order to reduce the number of tryouts. What impresses me the most is that we always get 30-40 people trying out, regardless of rank requirement. There is a two-week tryout process where folks typically end up playing against each other for the first tryout set. A round of cuts are made, and a second tryout set usually involves trying out players in scrims against other teams. Effectively, the first few weeks/month after tryouts are a tryout period to ensure that folks are a fit for the team and that they can manage the team responsibilities with school.





TryHarder: What's the team life like? Comparable to physical sports?

Kyle: The team practices for about three three-game scrim sets a week. Each practice will be about three hours each, and will happen entirely online. There is typically a VOD review and draft planning meeting, which adds another one or two hours and will be held either in the library or online. Players typically compete in one match a week – either Best of 3 or Best of 5 – so another three to five hours a week there. The total commitment lands to about 15 hours a week on team functions. The NCAA limits athletes to 20 hours a week of team mandated activities via the 20 Hour Rule. Once you add on required (or more, depending on the player) solo queue grinding, the time commitments are actually about the same between esports and athletics. The difference and the challenge for a club esports program is that there isn’t the university support – no tutors, trainers, or sports psychologists – to help refine the team performance and assist the players with the day to day college life. Most of my players worked towards business or STEM degrees, and I have even worked with players who have had to work 20-30 hours a week to support themselves.

Interview Over

Thanks again to Kyle for answering our questions! Now you know a little more about collegiate League of Legends and what it takes to join a squad. Give Kyle a follow on twitter and reach out to us at TryHarder if you have more questions. We'll be interviewing more coaches to show what it's like to try out and play for different teams.



TryHarder, Be Better.

- Kyle Kilponen + TryHarder Team