TSM Academy have announced that their new head coach going into the summer split will be veteran League of Legends Championship Series player Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero. The former Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming jungler will make his debut as a coach in this role.
Please welcome our new LCS Academy Head Coach @Xmithie!
We're proud to announce his addition to our LCS Academy staff. Xmithie has a long history as a player and will be invaluable to the growth of our young players. pic.twitter.com/3KKAlUHWWk
— TSM (@TSM) May 4, 2022
Xmithie returns as TSM Academy head coach
Xmithie is one of the most decorated and tenured players in the LCS. He started his career all the way back in season two, but has been able to win six LCS championships across two different franchises, Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid. He won beside long-time friend and teammate Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. Xmithie originally retired in 2020 after a final stint with Immortals.
Despite being in a completely new role, Xmithie is not the first successful player to move to a coaching position. Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg made the move from TSM player to coach, however he has since returned to pro play as the mid laner for Team Liquid.
TSM Academy has faced produced rough results in the last year due to volatility on the roster, finishing last in the spring 2022 Academy season. One of the imports that TSM brought in as their LCS mid-laner, Zhu “Keaiduo” Xiong, was demoted to the academy roster and then left the team at the end of the year. Omran “V1per” Shoura also left the team at the end of the year.
In order to fill in the missing spots, TSM brought in Alex “Soul” Luo and Choi “Mia” Sang-in. As of right now, TSM Academy have not listed a new mid laner.
The next split of Academy will start in June as TSM Academy look to rebound with a rebuild.
