Reports of 100 Thieves going out and bringing in a reigning world champion to coach its VALORANT roster are true. The organization confirmed today that it has brought back Tony “Zikz” Gray to take on the head coaching role.
Zikz, who spent half a decade coaching League of Legends in the LCS before switching over to VALORANT, joins 100T with his coaching stock at an all-time high following a world championship run with Evil Geniuses as the team’s assistant coach. Both head coach Christine “potter” Chi and several members of the EG team praised Zikz for what he brought to the team.
The move to 100T is a reunion of sorts for Zikz and the organization as he coached the 100T LCS roster for all of 2020 and the 2021 Spring Split, in what was his final League coaching stint before switching to VALORANT. In today’s official announcement video, Zikz said he’s very confident in the 100T 2024 roster and believes the group has the potential to contend for Champions.
The announcement from 100T also confirmed the fate of Michael “Mikes” Hockom, who served as head coach for the 2023 VCT Americas season. Mikes will stay on with the team and return to the assistant coach role, a role he previously occupied when now full-time content creator Sean Gares served as the head coach.
Zikz and Mikes will look to do better than what 100T accomplished last year as the team missed the playoffs in VCT Americas and were eliminated early in the LCQ. The team is still in the midst of figuring out its roster and it’s been reported that the team’s offer to bring in another EG member in Kelden “Boostio” Pupello was turned down by EG.
While there are many months until the start of VCT 2024, 100T is slated to compete at Red Bull Home Ground 4 at the start of November.
