The Hangzhou Spark announced the departure of interim head coach Jaehong “Andante” Hwang and assistant coach Chung-in “Mentalist” Kim from the team.
Andante joined Spark in September of 2020 as an assistant coach. Andante would later be promoted to interim head coach after Ji-sub “paJion” Hwang left the Spark in April. Mentalist joined the team at the same time as Andante’s promotion to replace assistant coach Jae-dong “nOrU” Kim.
Spark would release a video on their official Twitter discussing the reasons for the changes.
In the video, Spark supervisor Huang “Xiaogui” Tsung-Yu explained that Andante’s departure was due to differences in vision. Xiaogui said: “-We realized that there are irreconcilable differences between Andante’s and rest of [the] rest of the Spark’s ideals.” “- After careful consideration, we had to end working with our respectable partner coach Andante”.
Xiaogui would later explain that Mentalist’s departure from the team: “On the other hand, our coach Mentalist is saying farewell to Overwatch for personal work choice reasons”.
Although Spark has yet to announce a replacement head coach, Xiaogui hinted at an announcement in the near future. “- we will continue to actively look for great coaching candidates globally and I believe I will have good news to share with you all soon.
The Hangzhou Spark are on the cusp of playoffs, tied for fourth place in the Asia-Pacific region with a 7-5 record.
The Hangzhou Spark will need to find a replacement head coach before they face the Seoul Dynasty on July 31st.
