South Korean esports organization T1 has announced that legendary Counter-Strike player-turned-coach, Daniel “fRoD” Montaner, will be the head coach of their Valorant team.
fRoD began playing Counter-Strike competitively in 2003, back in the days of Counter-Strike 1.6. He is best known for his stint as the AWPer for compLexity Gaming (coL) from 2005 to 2007. fRoD helped the team win ESWC 2005 and CPL Summer 2006, ushering in an era of North American dominance in Counter-Strike.
He moved to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) in 2013, signing with Denial eSports and United5 before returning to coL in 2015.
fRoD left coL again after six months to become an Overwatch player and manager for FaZe Clan.
fRoD parted ways with FaZe in 2017 then returned to CS:GO in 2019 to pursue a coaching career with Swole Patrol and Lazarus Esports. He last coached for Swole Identity in March of this year.
The esports veteran will now coach a Valorant team that includes newcomer Austin “crashies” Roberts, as well as former CS:GO pros Keven “AZK” Larivière and Braxton “brax” Pierce, who formally became the first-ever Valorant pro player after being signed by T1 on March 12.
“Excited about this opportunity and for all the future holds. Couldn’t have asked for a better org [and] better group to get this project going. Full steam ahead!” fRoD said in a retweet of T1’s formal announcement.
Even if Valorant is still only a month into its closed beta phase, the hype surrounding the game has been phenomenal. Big-name players from other shooter games like CS:GO, Apex Legends, and Overwatch are already trying their luck in Valorant’s fledgling competitive scene well ahead of its expected rise to a top tier esport.
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