Bengi resigns as T1 head coach following slow LCK start, Faker injury

In a shock July 7 announcement, long-time League of Legends player-turned-coach Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong has resigned from his post at T1 and will depart the organization at the end of the current LCK Summer Season.

The announcement came via Twitter and was signed by T1’s general manager Becker Jung, who thanked Bengi for a “remarkable” journey with the organization as both team jungler and head coach. “His commitment, dedication, and inspiring legacy have left an indelible mark on T1,” Jung said.

In the interim, Im “Tom” Jae-hyeon will stand in as the team’s head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season, including both the current LCK split and any of the team’s international commitments—including Oct. 2023’s World Championships in South Korea should T1 qualify.

Bengi joined T1 in Feb. 2013, then known as SK Telecom T1, as the team’s starting jungler. Alongside Faker, he would play a massive part in the team’s legendary run from 2013 to 2017, which included three Worlds titles and a fourth grand final appearance.

He departed to join Vici Gaming before retiring as a player and returning to T1 as a coach in 2018. After one split as coach he stepped away, only to resurface in late 2020, once again taking the reigns for T1’s Challenger side.

Bengi would coach the squad to a dominant title win in the 2021 LCK CL Spring Season, before crumbling to tenth in the Summer. Bengi would return to T1’s main head coach role in Sep. 2022, replacing Polt just a month out from Worlds.

Together, Bengi and T1 would achieve yet another Worlds grand final finish, falling short to DRX in the grand final. His efforts secured him the head coach position for 2023, and all signs were positive despite a second-place finish in LCK Spring 2023 and a third-place finish at MSI 2023.

However, between a less-than-inspired start to the LCK Summer Season, a swathe of fan criticism following defeats, and a hand injury to Faker ruling the star mid-laner out indefinitely, Bengi’s departure caps off a horrid month for the organization.

New interim head coach Tom and T1 are set to take to the Rift later today against LCK ladder leaders Gen.G at 1am CT.