As the season starts for NW’s esports teams things look a little different. At the end of last season, Coach Prescott left. This season, a new interim head coach / director stepped up. Luke Van Dyke is an alumni, former esports player, and after graduating, coach. In the absence of a permanent program director, Van Dyke has stepped in as the head coach and interim director of the e-sports program.
Director Van Dyke now oversees the Overwatch, Rocket League, and Super Smash Bros teams. The Smash Bros season began on Tuesday the 23rd as the first game was held in the Hub. The next day, the 24th, the Rocket League season kicked off as well.
Director Van Dyke decided to take the position temporarily as the “the hiring process for hiring a new director has been slow. Coach Prescott left in July, which didn’t leave a lot of time for [NW] to hire a new person, so my thought is I wanted to work here to give them time to hire the best person possible”. Van Dyke continued saying “I don’t want [NW] to feel the need to hire the first guy who applies for the job and interviews and does okay. I think that would be bad for the program long term.”
Van Dyke also gave his vision for the future of the program saying, “my ideal is that me working here gives Tony and the other people in the athletic department more time to search for a better candidate.”
Van Dyke also explained his history with the esports program. Director Van Dyke was the first person recruited to play for the NW esports program. Van Dyke played Overwatch his freshman year, as well as Smash Bros during his senior year. He was a captain on both teams.
Director Van Dyke said that the search for a new director is still “up in the air”. For the time being, the esports team is in good, well qualified hands.
