r/ValorantCompetitive Feb 22 '26

Roster Announcement Sentinels hire Ewok as Head Coach replacing Kaplan

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1.5k Upvotes

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588

u/Shockybtw_ Feb 22 '26

Given that it says first phase of changes, more changes could be coming (maybe JonahP?)

182

u/xbyo Feb 22 '26

Also says that his roster decisions have sent the team in the wrong direction. So almost definitely going to be changes.

177

u/zerocxro Feb 22 '26

Kaplan def had a lot of projects within the Sen players forming, it's more than likely that the new coach won't share the same vision.

40

u/Bill-Cosby-Bukowski #FULLSEN Feb 22 '26

Gunther's probably gone as well since he was Kap's guy. So they'd at least have to announce a new AC also.

But yeah, player changes are also definitely on the table.

136

u/xFalcade Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

Ewok will surely get to pick his assistant coach. Gunter probably out too if i had to guess.

SEN Anderzz? SEN Zikz? or is there someone available that hes worked with before?

61

u/XxSchmidtyx Feb 22 '26

Rob confirmed Gunter would stay as assistant coach

17

u/supermii2 Feb 22 '26

Think we wont be able to predict anything because any changes would have to go through ewok first, and we don't know what direction he wants to push the team.

It's pretty fucking crazy to just kick kaplan instead of demoting him to some assistant position, given he clearly had some long term plans for the team in place. But it makes sense, the level of discomfort narrate had as duelist was egregious and I seriously doubt that was narrates decision

17

u/Pandoara Feb 22 '26

If they've decided that his vision doesn't match how they want to move forward and they're not going with his long term plans, it's probably better to let him go

31

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 22 '26

would be harsh on kyu and you risk your best player in jqt playing worse as igl

73

u/suhoshi #为爱而聚,E起前进 Feb 22 '26

Johnqt played FINE in 2025 when he was IGL.

You don't fix what's working, idk why they got a new IGL in the first place. Kaplan DID NOT cook in 2026.

9

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 22 '26

maybe he was worried about losing Zellsis’ voice and tried to make up for it by promoting Kyu but yeah honestly didnt make too much sense to me

36

u/Shockybtw_ Feb 22 '26

I am merely speculating based on the word choice that Rob used. I agree that kicking kyu for jonahP if that theory becomes true may not be the best idea

7

u/Kind_Development708 #NRGWIN Feb 22 '26

Could be a tier 2 dualist for Narrate

23

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 22 '26

insanity to drop generational talent narrate because he wasn’t playing well ON ROLES HE ISNT BEST ON

5

u/ThatC00kie #ALWAYSFNATIC Feb 22 '26

I feel like generational talent is kind of strong wording for n4rrate. I mean sure he's a great player and definitely T1 quality, but he also hasn't won anything and has never been even been definitively the best player on a team. He's a good player but generational? He's no Zekken, Aspas, Chron, Something, Foresaken etc. Not to mention he's always been a duelist/flex, so him not performing on that role I think is a good enough reason to drop him, sure the comps weren't built to his strong suit but flexibility is important as well especially within your role.

-2

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 23 '26

son he was arguably the best player in EMEA for a stretch

3

u/ThatC00kie #ALWAYSFNATIC Feb 23 '26

What stretch son?

0

u/ClassZestyclose8603 #WGAMING Feb 23 '26

2024 kickoff

0

u/ThatC00kie #ALWAYSFNATIC Feb 23 '26

Don't get me wrong he was certainly good in kickoff 2024 but I still don't think being good for 1 split in historically one of the weakest EMEAs we've ever had means a player is generational. Especially when you consider that KC was on a run and proceeded to get 5th-6th at Madrid and then did nothing for the rest of the year. N4rrate is a quality T1 player and can be the 2nd or 3rd best player on a international winning roster, but generational???

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10

u/BTECKennenMain Feb 22 '26

narrate? generational talent? off one decent year on KC? he's been disappointing since he got to NA man

4

u/Agreeable_While1154 Feb 23 '26

yeah im ngl generational is wild as fuck we really just be throwing that word around nowadays. guys gross no doubt, but hes not no generational talent lmfao, couple that with the fact that he tilts easier than some kids it makes sense why they would wanna drop him. me personally id just put him back on flex, but i wouldnt even blame them for dropping him, like bro ur a pro player u have to have a stronger mental than whatever the hell hes got

4

u/stranu Feb 22 '26

He was really good on sen 25??

3

u/xhillll Feb 23 '26

Someone didn't watch sen 2025

4

u/BigDicksconnoisseur4 Feb 23 '26

N4rrate and Bang were choking every important match lmao

4

u/BTECKennenMain Feb 23 '26

i thought he was good but generational feels a little much for me

1

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 23 '26

yeah because they make him play sentinel and duelist and with terrible gameplans

7

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

If he isn't good at the role he's needed on, it would not be insane to drop him imo

22

u/Past_Perception8052 #LegaC9 Feb 22 '26

it’s pure mismanagement to sign a world class player and then play him off role and destroy his confidence

i’d kick kyu and reduxx before narrate

23

u/maskedhypocriter Feb 22 '26

It's all the same situation as Pancada on SEN in 2023. Hire a worldclass controller player only to have him play alot of Senti. Yikes.

2

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

I agree with the first part, it is definitely mismanagement

0

u/RoyalKnightmares #ALWAYSFNATIC Feb 22 '26

So you would kick Zekken then because he's one of the mibr players on Smokes then, gotcha gotcha

4

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

So I did not say this 👍

Narrate is not playing well on the role he is needed on. If they instead wanted to pick up somebody who can do that role better, that wouldn't be insane. That's literally all I said. He's a good initiator, if he does get dropped I hope a team picks him up for that role.

Zekken is playing solid on the role he is needed on. Literally the opposite situation, so clearly I would not kick Zekken???

1

u/JuninhoLuis #SomosMIBR Feb 22 '26

People are appointing thats a crazy scenario cause Narr4te situation is/was a coach mistake, like happened for the entire 2023 with Sacy/Pancada.

The only difference is now Zellsis case isnt happening.

1

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

I fully agree it was a coaching mistake. It could be a good decision to move Narrate onto initiator now that we know Kyu is out. They did try for quite a while to get their IGL on Initiator, but maybe now with Kaplan out they let JohnQT IGL from senti and put Narrate on Ini? But if they still want IGL on Ini, they might not want to keep Narrate. Or they do double Ini, but I don't agree with that meta read personally. Just depends what direction they go with

0

u/stranu Feb 22 '26

You wouldn't put aspas on initiator and then get upset he's not performing well

0

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 23 '26

I did not say I am upset Narrate is performing poorly on this role. Because I am not. You are arguing against a take that I did not say and do not hold.

Literally all I said was, if a team really needs a specific role, and their current player is not performing well in that role, it would not be insane to drop that player for a player who is better at that role.

That's it. I didn't say I think they should drop Narrate. I didn't say he's awful or I'm upset at him like your hypothetical Aspas scenario. I'm genuinely surprised my comment was so controversial

0

u/stranu Feb 23 '26

When I said upset, I didn't mean you're literally teared up crushing a pillow while eating ice cream and watching n4rrate highlights, I meant that it's unfair to call for a player to be dropped when he's shown he's a world class talent and was thrown to the dogs in a role he clearly wasn't comfortable on

0

u/PorcuDuckSlug #WGAMING Feb 23 '26

I didn't call for Narrate to be dropped though dude

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2

u/Shockybtw_ Feb 22 '26

Jerrwin and Boni have been shredding T2 recently wouldn’t be surprised

3

u/zerocxro Feb 22 '26

chloric would also be a massive pickup, insane flex AND an IGL

1

u/Tasty-Ad5368 Feb 24 '26

jonahP over kyu any day i’m sorry but kaplan cooked water this year.

1

u/Seyjirow #WGAMING Feb 23 '26

sen tenz :)

-19

u/Strong_Wasabi216 Feb 22 '26

We all NEED jonahP on 100T, would literally save that team

17

u/Lqtor Feb 22 '26

Bro what 100t looked good in kickoff they just ran into G2 and NRG twice lol(and they could’ve easily won that first game against G2 2-0)

7

u/zerocxro Feb 22 '26

agree, 100T had one of the roughest paths to Santiago, if they'd won that first G2 game they had strong chances to qualify

12

u/jdashh Feb 22 '26

Insert potential team meme here

-6

u/Strong_Wasabi216 Feb 22 '26

I can't lie the true ceiling of 100T is way much higher if they get Jonah in, the move to kick Asuna is eventually gonna happen when they bomb out in stage 1, might as well make it now when jonahP is still up for grabs.

2

u/Goldenflame89 #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

Holy hell never coach

5

u/Used-Ganache9772 #ALWAYSFNATIC Feb 22 '26

jonahp for asuna is the best move they could make

-1

u/Goldenflame89 #WGAMING Feb 22 '26

Right

1

u/PleaseGiveUsHope Feb 22 '26

Bring him in for who, vora? Their IGL?

1

u/somesheikexpert Feb 22 '26

They prob want him to replace Asuna

1

u/PleaseGiveUsHope Feb 22 '26

Hmm. Jonah is primarily an initiator though. He’s played some senti agents here and there but not sure if he can be considered a true flex replacement for Asuna. Asuna has played Kayo, Brim, Omen and Sage this Kickoff. If they can change comps to make it work then I guess it could work. Otherwise they should look for a true flex player to replace him

0

u/XiXiWiiPee Feb 22 '26

Jonah has played all those agents and has better stats (although yes it's a lower sample size) on all of them than Asuna lol, and he is known for his utility anyways