by T1 have announced the signing of a new contract with Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong as the head of the franchise’s League of Legends team. The Korean has been promoted from his previous role as a coach and will be leading the team in the 2023 season.
The franchise took to their Twitter page to make the announcement, welcoming the coach to the team.
“A big WELCOME to ‘Bengi’ who will lead the T1 League of Legends team as head coach for the upcoming 2023 season!” the franchise announced.
Aside from Bengi signing a new contract with T1 as the new head coach, the franchise also recorded some more changes to their coaching staff and player roster. The franchise parted ways with their substitute at the support position, Kim “Asper” Tae-gi, and coach Kim “Moment” Ji-hwan.
They made the announcement on November 17, stating that Moment and the franchise have parted ways. They thanked him for his contributions to the franchise and wished him the best in his future endeavors.
“As of today, we are wrapping up our journey with T1 League of Legends Kim “Moment” Jih-wan,” the translation to their tweet read.
“T1 sincerely thank coach Kim “Moment” Ji-hwan in his new challenge until the end. Thank you for your support and encouragement in the past.”
The franchise also went on to announce Asper’s exit about an hour after informing the public about Moment’s departure.
“As of today, we are wrapping up our journey with T1 League of Legends Kim “Asper” Tae-gi,” the translation to their tweet on Asper read.
“T1 sincerely thank Kim “Asper” Tae-gi in his new challenge until the end. Thank you for your support and encouragement in the past.”
This is not Bengi’s first rodeo with T1, as the 28-year old has been a part of the franchise’s challengers team since 2020. He was named the interim head coach on September 4 after the team’s successful run at the 2022 LCK Summer Playoffs, finishing second in the tournament after suffering a clean sweep loss to Gen.G.
T1 made their way to the World’s 2022 and Bengi was outstanding at the tournament. He led the team to the Grand Finals for the fifth time in the franchise’s history. They were a map shy of becoming world champions as DRX got the better of them in the best-of-five series.
Choi “Polt” Seong-hun, who was the former head coach of the team prior to the addition of Bengi to T1’s main team in September, was promoted to the general manager position. Polt, like Moment, had recently parted ways with the organization.
T1 seems to be restructuring their coaching staff roster, having had three members of the coaching team exit the organization within a short span. Aside from Bengi, there are also a few members left on the coaching staff, including Kim “Sky” Ha-neul and analyst Kang “Gisepa” Ji-moon.
While the offseason is still ongoing, there have been no reports suggesting a change in the playing roster. It is expected that the roster will remain the same, consisting of top laner Choi “Zeus” Woo-je, jungler Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon, mid laner Lee Sang-hyeok, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok.
