Rawkus joins Sentinels as head coach after leaving FaZe Clan roster

Sentinels have signed former FaZe Clan core member Rawkus as the team’s first head coach ahead of the Valorant Champions next month.

Shane ‘Rawkus’ Flaherty has been with FaZe’s Valorant scene since the early days of the esport. Previously, he was an Overwatch World Cup Champion (2019) before making the transition to Riot’s FPS.

After spending his Valorant pro player career with FaZe, the 27-year-old will make his LAN debut orchestrating the Sentinels offense from behind the scenes.

“I’m going to be with them [Sentinels] for their Berlin run,” he said. “We’re going to win Champs, I’m excited for it. It’s just like an exciting new chapter.”

Rawkus joins Sentinels’ Valorant team

Rawkus will inherit what’s already considered to be one of the best Valorant lineups in the world.

Sentinels are loaded with talent in every position, spearheaded by Jett ace Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo. Along with IGL Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan, Rawkus will be charged with adding to the team’s playbook when going up against the international competition.

Speaking on the announcement, the American said everyone was amped for the move seeing as it could go a long way to fixing the team’s biggest downfalls: “I feel like it was something they were all on board,” he said. “They’re all insanely talented players. They don’t need anyone to hard-core coach them.

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“They know how to play the game, obviously, they won two Masters back-to-back. Personally what I want to help them with is cheesy strats and new ideas.”

Sentinels were a lock to sweep all three Masters titles in 2021 before their eventual collapse against Team Envy in the Berlin quarterfinals. There’s no doubting the talent on the Red-and-Black’s roster but the team is looking to add “brainpower to [its] firepower” by signing Rawkus.

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Sentinels are one of only 16 teams competing at Champions and will look for a better outcome than its last VCT LAN run.