Philadelphia Fusion adds NineK as head coach

The former Paris Eternal manager makes his debut as head coach.

Photo by Ben Pursell via Blizzard Entertainment

A new era is starting for the Philadelphia Fusion.

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The Fusion announced today that it’s adding Kim “NineK” Beom-hoom as its head coach for the 2021 Overwatch League season. He’ll replace former head coach Kim “KDG” Dong Gun, who parted ways with the Fusion earlier this week. 

NineK spent the 2020 Overwatch League season acting as general manager for the Paris Eternal. His departure from the Eternal was announced earlier today. Before his time with Paris, NineK was an assistant coach for the San Francisco Shock during the team’s 2019 championship season. He previously coached for NRG Esports and played off-tank for ROX Orcas.  

This will be NineK’s first time acting as the head coach of a team. 

The Philadelphia Fusion ended the 2020 Overwatch League season with a 24-2 overall record and dropped out of the Grand Finals bracket in fourth place. It was a tough loss for the Fusion players and staff, many of whom spent two weeks quarantining in South Korea before taking on the finals bracket.  

As far as the Fusion’s 2021 Overwatch League roster is concerned, only four players have been confirmed to return. Clutch DPS players Lee “Carpe” Jae-hyeok and Jeong “Heesu” Hee-Su are under existing contracts while main support Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway has had his contract extended, according to the 2021 Overwatch League contract status update. Flex support and 2020 Rookie of the Year Kim “Alarm” Kyeong-bo will also be returning to the Fusion in 2021.  

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Liz Richardson
Liz is a freelance writer and editor from Chicago. Her favorite thing is the Overwatch League; her second favorite thing is pretending iced coffee is a meal. She specializes in educational content, patch notes that (actually) make sense, and aggressively supporting Tier 2 Overwatch. When she's not writing, Liz is expressing hot takes on Twitter and making bad life choices at Target.