Rawkus No Longer Coaching Sentinels
Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty will no longer be a coach for Sentinels. He returned to FaZe where he was immediately put on the bench. His initial contract with Sentinels was on a temporary basis. He was supposed to join full-time but the negotiations between the two companies fell through because of “buyout complications”.
Rawkus is still contractually obligated to FaZe, but according to him, there are “no intentions from either side to be apart of the team again“. On the bright side, Rawkus is looking forward to competing once again as a player. He’s currently looking for a new team.
An Abrupt End
This has come as a shock for both Sentinels fans and fans of Rawkus. He has been with Sentinels since November, last year, and has been enjoying his new role and the new environment he found himself in.
In his TwitLonger post, he explains how this didn’t simply happen overnight. His contract with Sentinels expired on January 1st, and since then, Sentinels have been in negotiation with FaZe.
Rawkus further explained:
“The past month Sentinels were in talks with FaZe looking to have me come over as a full time Coach for the team but unfortunately a deal between both parties could not be made due to buyout complications.”
It’s quite possible that FaZe set an unrealistic price tag on Rawkus and Sentinels weren’t willing to accept it. It’s unfortunate for both parties, but it’s time to move on.
No longer Coaching Sentinels
Read: https://t.co/F6PFgcvZDh
— Rawkus (@Rawkus) February 26, 2022
We’ll hopefully see Rawkus competing soon in the Valorant Champions Tour. According to him, he’s “only gotten better since taking a break” so it’ll be interesting to see all the new tricks he’s learned in this time.
Additionally, observing Sentinels players must have had a lasting impact on him and made him change as a Valorant player. In his post he says:
“I feel I’ve only gotten better since taking a break, being able to change environments and watching them play has made me see the game in a completely new perspective and I’m extremely excited to return.”
All in all, the future still looks bright for Rawkus. We can’t wait to see where he’ll land next.
How Will This Affect Sentinels?
It’s unlikely this will impact Sentinels to an extreme degree. They dominated the previous VCT season without even having a coach, so it’s not necessarily all doom and gloom for them.
However, they haven’t been the same ever since the Masters in Berlin in 2021. Even right now in VCT NA Challengers 1, Sentinels find themselves somewhere in the middle in Group B. They beat the two weakest teams there, but already suffered a loss to OpTic Gaming. This is the same team that eliminated them from Valorant Champions, which is an indication that not much has changed for Sentinels since then.
Still, Rawkus leaving will definitely leave an impact on the Sentinels. It’s unclear whether they’ll look for a replacement soon or if they’ll attempt to continue without a coach for now, but they should be able to pull through.
