HEROIC’s esports coaching shakeup highlights the growing business of competitive gaming rosters

Danish esports organization HEROIC just promoted Joonas “doto” Forss to head coach of its primary Counter-Strike 2 roster, replacing Tobias “TOBIZ” Theo and parting ways with analyst r0nic. The promotion was announced on July 6.

From academy experiment to main roster leadership

Before joining HEROIC, doto coached ENCE Prospects. He joined HEROIC on April 3, 2025, specifically to build out the academy pipeline and develop emerging talent to feed into the main roster.

That academy project wrapped up around mid-June 2026. Rather than going to market for a proven head coach, HEROIC decided to promote from within. TOBIZ, who was hired on June 28, 2025, lasted roughly a year in the role. His departure comes after a stretch of roster instability that included adjustments following the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025.

The organization also let go of analyst r0nic as part of the reshuffle, signaling a clean break in the coaching infrastructure rather than a simple personnel swap.

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