Liquid announced on Monday that Damian “daps” Steele will be taking over the coaching position moving forward as the North American squad prepares for its next Big Event, IEM Cologne.
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Liquid bench shox and adreN
The move comes just a day after the organization announced the benching of both rifler Richard “shox” Papillon and coach Eric “adreN” Hoag from the main roster after a disappointing start to 2022, during which Liquid‘s best result came in the form of a 5-8th place finish at ESL Pro League Season 15.
daps will meet familiar faces as he takes the reins in Liquid
This will be daps‘ first role back in the professional scene after taking a break following his stint with the Orgless project he founded earlier this year. The team was never able to break into the higher tiers of competition, only ever attaining success in local ESEA Cash Cups before eventually disbanding back in April.
Before that, from 2017 to 2019, daps had been in charge of the NRG squad that went on to find much success under Evil Geniuses, a roster he fostered as an in-game leader and later a coach. He then returned to playing in Cloud9 and Gen.G before joining back up with his former NRG teammates as Evil Geniuses‘ coach in 2021.
Coaching Liquid will mark daps‘ second tour with the North American organization, for which he briefly played in early 2015 alongside Keith “NAF” Markovic, Nick “nitr0” Cannella, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and the outgoing coach he’s replacing, adreN.
Liquid are now just one announcement away from having a starting five, as the active lineup is down to four players after shox took his leave from the team and was moved to the bench.
Following daps‘ addition, Liquid‘s roster is currently:
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
Keith “NAF” Markovic
Richard “shox” Papillon (benched)
