University program implodes

Recent departures have placed the team on pause.

In recent days, several members of the Davenport University CS:GO roster have issued tweets, announcing that they are looking for new teams to represent for upcoming seasons of ESEA. These departures include Assistant Coach Luke "Viathan" Carstens, Colin "koi" Thor, Austin "austin" Meadows, and Lane "RiFT" Hardesty.

While players on the hunt for new teams after a season concludes isn't anything new, it is strange for there to be so many from Davenport University, given the ties to potential scholarships and long-term plans at the educational institution. Given Davenport's recent demotion to ESEA Advanced, players are likely more motivated for greener pastures.

These departures recently follow the exit of long-time coach and program do-it-all Colin "koi" Thor. He left the University last week citing personal reasons and not being able to give the program his full effort at the moment.

austin recently announced that he is looking for a team, which is alarming considering he actively enrolled in Davenport University two months ago.

In a tweet, austin implied that there were "serious issues" with the Davenport Counter-Strike program which is surprising for the general public considering that the University has made tremendous strides in the North American scene for its success at the online competition level.

However, the more alarming news has come this afternoon as Davenport has announced that they will not be able to participate in the NACE Star League and the FACEIT College as their roster was suddenly depleted.

Dust2.us has reached out to multiple players and staff at Davenport, but have not heard back at the time of publication.

Also read

#1(With 0 replies)
March 27, 2023 04:52PM
METro_kj
Damn, load-bearing koi. all of the best to the members involved though. It's been important to the scene.
#2(With 2 replies)
March 27, 2023 10:53PM
Warfororks
Geez, I was really bummed when I saw Mythic/Davenport have to go head-to-head for the last ECL spot, losing relegation must've straight up killed the program. Yikes
#4(With 1 replies)
March 28, 2023 11:47AM
RyanFriend
I think there were a lot of factors. I would be shocked if just getting relegated makes the team lose. It's a University program where the team should be focused on school first, with sport second.
#5(With 0 replies)
March 28, 2023 07:30PM
Asmith
Dust2 Birthday cake!
I can't speak on the Davenport situation and I'm not saying this is the case here, but I play collegiate and I can say there are plenty of people who would rather go to college to play esports rather than going to college to get a degree. Sometimes it's their intent to go to college to do the least amount of work possible and play, or they put so much time into the game where schoolwork is an afterthought. It never surprises me to see collegiate teams blow up.
#3(With 0 replies)
March 28, 2023 10:16AM
lkznz
why though, is it money related?
You must be logged in to add a comment.