Daniel “Rook” Wiitanen (pictured) – who was recently appointed strategic coach of Team Paria’s League of Legends team – has been sacked, eSports News UK understands.
Team Paria has let him go due to ‘internal conflicts’, with head coach Tendanas (Utah Schelhaas) now stepping up to coach the team.
eSports News UK interviewed Daniel after he made some comments about Paria targeting a top four ESL UK Premiership finish, which sparked some heated debate on Twitter.
However, having not yet published the interview and with him no longer being on the team, we won’t be publishing the interview at this time.
Rumours heard by eSports News UK suggest Daniel may have made threats to Paria’s owner after learning he was being dropped, but this is speculation and can’t be confirmed. We’ve reached out to Daniel but haven’t heard back from him yet.
Team Paria owner Stefan “ioswitch” Heesters has told us that Tendanas was already the head coach for the team, with Daniel holding the role of strategic coach before leaving.
In a twitlonger post, Tendanas said: “I am really excited to serve the team and help it grow. I will use my education and coaching experience at its fullest potential to help creating a team environment where safety, trust and fairness are present as I want everyone to enjoy their stay in the team.
“My vision about coaching in short is that it’s not about what a coach wants in the team, it’s about what the players want in the team. As a coach I will do my best to fulfil the needs of the players so that they can continue their growth towards a better player.
“Prepare yourself UK Premiership, because you are about to face a team where bonds will not shatter – whatever you throw at us!”
Team Paria is one of the teams attempting to qualify for the ESL UK Premiership 2016 Spring Season.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
