TSM has fired Head of Player Development and long-time League of Legends coach Peter Zhang after the organization was made aware of “very serious allegations of conflict of interest and unethical practices.” He had been at the team since 2018.
TSM’s miserable start to LCS 2022 has gotten worse with the organization firing 28-year-old League of Legends coach Peter Zhang with just two weeks left in the Spring split.
The organization cited “very serious allegations of conflict of interest and unethical practices” against Zhang, who had been at TSM for four years.
He was previously head coach of the LCS team in 2020, as well as two stints as TSM’s Academy’s Head Coach in 2019 and later in 2020-21. In November 2020, he was also given the new role of Head of Player Development.
— TSM (@TSM) March 18, 2022
While details of the allegations are unclear, TSM have terminated his contract “effective immediately” and are “working with external legal counsel to complete a full investigation.”
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The sacking comes after TSM’s worst LCS start in organizational history in 2022. With two weeks before Spring playoffs, TSM sit in dead-last with a 2-11 record, two wins behind Immortals in ninth.
Their Academy roster isn’t faring any better, sitting with a 13-23 game record at the bottom of the standings, one win behind Evil Geniuses’ second team.
Peter Zhang has not commented on his sudden departure from the organization. However, players like jungler Mingyi ‘Spica’ Lu made cryptic posts on social media ahead of the announcement like “everyday at TSM is a banger.”
LCS commissioner Jackie Felling added “while this is extremely disappointing and it’s easy to kick an org while they are down, last week I met with the TSM folks and they are dedicated to turning the team around.”
TSM return to the Rift against Cloud9 on March 19 to kick off their LCS 2022 Spring Week 8 games.
