Why coaches should get titles in my opinion

This was brought up on reddit a couple days ago and yes I’m aware. This is not a “call out” to psyonix for not having titles for us and is in no way meant to insult anyone. Some of the information is based on my experience as a coach with allegiance in previous seasons and may not apply to the current state of coaches. I just wanted to share my thoughts on why we should and maybe list some reasons why I think we currently don’t.





TLDR; RLCS coaches don’t get titles, I think we should. Those who take it seriously put in hours to help the team improve, and have an impact on the outcome of a teams placement in a season. It takes a very high level of game knowledge to become a viable coach for an RLCS team and so it is a very difficult position to be qualified for.



Reasons why I think we don’t :

-I can see why an RLCS title should be exclusive to players. They are the ones who qualified and are good enough to compete at the highest level.

-the RLCS/RLRS titles for players are a light blue color, standing out from any other titles in the game and are instantly recognizable as a competitive “player”

-in previous seasons “coaching” has been looked at as a meme position that the manager would add to their title to just seem more valuable for the org to pay them a livable salary.

-coaches often didn’t actually coach, they were just friends of the team that would be brought along for the esports ride and I think psyonix was aware of this lack of active “coaching” from those filling the role.

-coaches have not been allowed on stage at events in the past.



(Now this does not apply to every coach in the previous seasons, but probably a majority)



Reasons why I think we should :

-if RLCS titles being exclusive to players was the reason, then RLCS analysts wouldn’t receive a tag. But this may be due to the fact that psyonix staff get a dev title, and so RLCS casting staff get a title as “staff” and that would be separate from the player argument. And it’s worth mentioning it’s a different color than the players blue tag.

-subs receive a tag and a large majority of subs never play in a single match, and often don’t practice with the team. One could argue that some subs are not on par with the level required to compete at RLCS, but having a player there just in case is better than forfeiting a match because someone on the starting 3 can’t play. Subs often don’t have an impact on the teams outcome of placement in the RLCS

-coaches that take the position seriously, such as myself and many others in the scene currently, often spend time with the team in scrims (For example I spectate every scrim unless something IRL keeps me from it which is not very often), spend time reviewing replays with the team, review replays of the team in their own time, review replays of opposing teams, spend time strategizing on how the team as a whole could be more cohesive as a unit, and spend time working with the players one on one with their strengths and weaknesses.

-being a useful coach requires an extremely high level of dedication to understand the game at the highest level to provide viable information for a teams success and improvement. And if players get rewarded for playing at the highest level because it shows a level of dedication and time committed unmatched by 99.9% of the player base then coaches should receive the same respect for their level of dedication and time committed to the team competing at a level unmatched by that same percentage.

-coaching is becoming a full time position separate from management as the skill gap decreases in size.

-coaches have an impact on the performance of a team, meaning the placement of a team in RLCS can be partially due to the efforts of a coach.

-coaches are now allowed on stage for RLCS worlds, and so it is recognized by psyonix that they have an impact on performance.

-coaches titles could be the same color as grand champ, and ESL tags, with different wording such as “RLCS Season 8 Dignitas Coach“

-I’m a coach and I just want a title 🤡





Clearly this is bias because I am a coach, everything should be taken as opinion and is based on my experiences in the scene.





In conclusion I think coaches should be held to a certain standard and should actually put time in to help the teams improve. If being allowed on stage is the first step in showing teams they should find someone who takes the job seriously, then teams should start picking up someone who is willing to put the time in to practice with the team and spend hours finding out how they can be a better team. It takes a special level of game knowledge to be able to do this viably and so I think those individuals should be rewarded in the same way in game. Maybe psyonix is working on something like this for the future but as far as I understand there is nothing in the works to reward a coach for their level of dedication and hours of work in the game like there is for players, subs, and analysts/casters. This is in no way a dig at psyonix for not doing this, this is merely my thoughts on why coaches should receive one, and why I think they currently don’t. Psyonix is getting better at recognizing the work that goes into an RLCS team outside of just the players every season and this may very well be on there list of things to do. I also want to clarify I’m not posting this because I want to feel “elite” or “exclusive” for having this title. I would just like for coaches to be recognized for their efforts the same way most other RLCS talent is, and this would maybe set the example that an RLCS coach is not just an esports ride along position for a friend. Thanks for coming to my TED talk

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