Coaches, one of the most important roles in a team nowadays, but also one of the most controversial… how not to love it, right? Jokes aside, there’s a reason why every professional and semi-professional team in the world right now has a coach - it’s because it really makes a difference.

But how so? And how can you differentiate a good from a bad coach? In this article, I’m going to help you become better at the role and learn what makes a good coach overall. For that, I’m counting on the help of none other than the coach of Dignitas’ CS:GO professional team, Faruk “pita” Pita.

Let’s Get the Basics Out of the Way - What Makes a Good CS:GO Coach?

A good coach is more than just being able to call out tactics and analyze what’s being done wrong during a CS:GO match. A good coach is someone who’s in sync with the players at all times, and not only understands what’s being done badly but also how to improve on the things that are going well.

CS:GO is a game where there’s always something different happening at all times in a single round, and a good coach can have the awareness to understand what each player is doing and correct them if needed.

I asked this question to pita, to which he answered in a very simple but straightforward way:

I think a combination of knowledge in-game and having good social skills is what makes a good coach

- pita

That’s a great way to summarize things since you can draw so many conclusions from them. Naturally, it’s important that you have extensive knowledge of the game and the current meta, but having good social skills is also important so that you can easily communicate with the players and make them respect you.

There’s no better or worse style for being a good coach - you can have a more aggressive stance on the game and others might prefer offering his team a more defensive one, and that’s ok. But there are good and bad work ethics and, in the end, it all comes down to that.

I believe every coach has their own style of coaching. Mine is being able to get a group to work together no matter what, and also help the team and the individuals tactical-wise. Some coaches maybe only focus on the team tactics, while some coaches maybe only focus on solving personal issues within the team.

- pita

Like I said, there’s no better style. But there’s one thing you need to have in mind: some styles work better with some players than others. And it’s up to the coach to understand that and adapt.

How Can You Become a Better CS:GO Coach?

The big question! First and foremost, be ready to study the game hard, and I truly mean it. Your job is to come up with solutions for the team and to solve internal problems that may arise. You might need to figure out why you lost a certain round or match and be able to convey that to the team in a way that presents a solution for next time a similar situation arises mid-match.

It’s your job to prepare the team for the upcoming official matches (with or without the help of the in-game leader and a possible analyst). It’s your job to make sure the team is on the same page at all times and get it together when it isn’t. These are some of the reasons why being a coach is not that easy and why some are better than others.

The way I do it is to always stay put on what is happening with the meta and trying to analyze my team and also our opponents on how things can be done better. I believe as a coach you can never be satisfied with what you know or think you know. You always have to work.

- pita

I’d like to point out the final two sentences said by Pita in the upper statement. “You can never be satisfied (...)”. Take a look at this and always be critical of your work. Look out at what can be done better, and how you can analyze your team and your opponents’ matches in a more effective way, or at least, in a way that reaps more benefits.

Study other coaches, look out for interviews, not only from them, but also from players talking about them. See what they say, try to understand how they communicate. Have a good list of stuff prepared for each match. Have tricks up your sleeve if something is not going the way you want on the server.

Be ready to talk with your players at all times, especially if said talk is not good - it’s easy to congratulate your players and have a nice chat when you just won a match. But it’s a totally different story if you lost it. You need to be able to calm their nerves, especially if you’re dealing with emotional players, and you also need to be able to convey your ideas and make your players understand what they did wrong and what could have been done better. They need to respect you.

Also, a good coach is someone who’s entrusted the fate of every single player of the team. If a coach says that a player shouldn’t be on the lineup, the team should respect that. Sure, that’s a bigger story and it’s not really that simple… but that’s part of the fun.

What is a coach supposed to do on a team with certain attributes?

Teams are built differently. Let’s take a look at the current competitive scenario: teams coached by Danny "zonic" Sørensen (Vitality and ex-Astralis) are generally more tactical and have more strategies planned than the average team, while FaZe, coached by Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström, have more of a fragging approach and are not as tactical. And that’s ok, but it can create some misconceptions on the role of a coach.

When I started off as a coach in 2014, there were misconceptions, but I think the overall idea of a coach is better established today. Since a lot of coaches have different ways to approach a team, I understand it can be difficult for the fans to understand the importance of a coach. But I think in general today, every coach I have met has both great social skills and also tactical skills. Some teams have a bigger need of a certain type of a coach, for an example a team with a great IGL would benefit more from a coach with good social skills, while a team with a bad IGL could benefit from someone with good tactical skills.

- pita

It all comes down to what I said earlier - a coach has to be able to adapt to every player and make the best out of it. But the players need to respect their coach and, together, build a relationship of trust that makes the job easier and get them the wins.

Final Tips

I’ve asked pita for some final tips during the final part of our conversation, to which he said:

Try to watch games and analyze as if you were to explain to your grandmother that has never touched a PC what is going on. By getting a good understanding of the game and rotations, you can then contribute to a team. If you believe your social skills could become better, there is professional help to get. Online courses in leadership, f.e. Always strive to be better and learn more. Be the hardest worker on the team and everyone will follow. And most importantly, have fun!

- pita

It’s all about looking forward and at ways to improve your game! Make sure to study hard, to be on the same page of your players and, hopefully, success will follow!

Thank you for reading this article! Hopefully it will help become a better coach in the future! You can reach out to me for feedback or suggestions via Twitter! Be sure to keep up with pita by following him on:

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