6 Best CS:GO Coaches in the History of Esports

What are the responsibilities of the modern CS:GO coaches and their roles in the team’s successes and failures? It’s hard to answer, looking only at four 30-second pauses to assist players during the official game, which is, in fact, only the tip of the iceberg.

Nowadays, professional CS:GO coaches can be a core of the team and the whole Counter-Strike project. Thus, they can find the needed players and build the strategy, tactics, and game plan for a particular opponent, also having the responsibilities of the analysts and psychologists. Of course, many top-tier teams have the latest two roles as separate positions, but modern CS:GO trainers are vital to the team’s progress in all aspects.

We’ve dug into the tournaments, stats, and community’s impression and are ready to come up with the top 6 coaches in the history of CS:GO:

zonic — Danny Sørensen

Those who have followed the game for more than a few years can easily name the best CS:GO coach of all time — Danny ‘zonic’ Sorensen. The former Danish CS 1.6 player and IGL of the mTw team came to Global Offensive with a massive experience and was able to implement it into the dominance of Astralis. The Danish team is considered the best in the history of CS:GO, grabbing 4 Majors (including 3 in a row in 2018-19), the first-ever Intel Grand Slam, and having the longest era in the game. If you're curious about the teams that made a significant impact, check out our article on the best csgo teams of all time.

Many can say that is the outcome of ‘gla1ve’ arrival, combined with the experience of ‘device,’ ‘dupreeh,’ and ‘Xyp9x.’ Fair enough, but exactly ‘zonic’ became the needed glue for the roster, initiating the presence of the professional team psychologist, creating almost a perfect atmosphere in the team for years. Nothing to say about his game understanding and helping the team with positive words, standing focused behind their backs.

And while some can say that ‘zonic’ was lucky to be at the right place at the right time, adding another Major with Vitality in 2023 cannot be counter-argued. He moved to a French team with two Danish players and turned them into a high-class English-speaking roster (he forbids players from the same country to live in the same room, for instance). Overall, he won 22 S-tier events finals and was in 13 more finals — all the chances that Paris Major wasn’t his last big trophy.

B1ad3 — Andrii Horodenskyi

With a much more modest achievements list, a high place in the rating of the best coaches in CS:GO history takes Andrii ‘B1ad3’ Horodenskyi. Like ‘zonic,’ he was also a legend in CS 1.6 and IGL of some notable Ukrainian teams, transforming his experience into a success in the Global Offensive game version.

The crème de la crème of his job was in the second part of 2021 when Natus Vincere dominated the Pro scene and won five big LAN trophies in a row. The Stockholm Major 2021 title, Intel Grand Slam season 3 golden bars, and victory at BLAST Premier World Final became the most notable points. Some can say that this is the magic of his structured approach and printed instructions prepared separately for every opponent and each map.

Who knows how the situation would continue if there had been no Russian invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of 2022, as there were all the chances that NAVI could continue winning. However, some players could not return to their homes, and the forced roster changes also didn’t help. In the middle of 2023, the team turned to an English-speaking roster, and it would be interesting to see how the best coach of 2022 by HLTV and CS:GO ‘philosopher’ would turn things into winning ways.

RobbaN — Robert Dahlström

Continuing the storyline of notable names from CS 1.6 that found themselves among the best CS:GO coaches, we should mention Robert ‘RobbaN’ Dahlstrom. The Swedish coach had a one-love story linked only to FaZe Clan, which started in 2016 and finished in the middle of 2023, with some pauses.

Unfortunately, he was sidelined from the Majors in Stockholm in 2021 and Antwerp in 2022 because of coaching bag allegations, so he missed the celebrations in Belgium. However, 11 victories on LAN events and numerous near-top places confirm ‘RobbaN’s’ impact in the game.

Compared to the above-mentioned duo of coaches that rely on structure, Robert Dahlsrom is more about emotions and psychological support. He is one of the most active coaches above the backs of the players, actively supporting them in any situation, while ‘karrigan’s’ words about the departure of ‘RobbaN’ can touch any heart.

zews — Wilton Prado

Two consecutive Major victories in 2016 easily pushed Wilton ‘zews’ Prado to the list of the best CS:GO coaches of all time. The Brazilian did a great job with Luminosity and SK in 2016 to grab delighted trophies, and then was pretty persuasive with Team Liquid (in 2018) and MIBR (in 2019) to finish a step away from Major finals. 

Although his cooperation with Evil Geniuses didn’t lead to some notable places at Majors, the team won three trophies and was a real power on the Pro scene in 2020-21. His further activity wasn’t pretty influential, but he continues to develop new projects and isn’t scared to dig deeper in the lower tiers. Moreover, he is the one to step in and play instead of any player if the latter has health issues or other struggles.

All the players confirm his professionalism and positive psychological influence on the teams ‘zews’ worked in. That is the true Brazilian approach, where getting and giving positive emotions is the cornerstone, which can lead to great results.

Devilwalk — Jonatan Lundberg

It may sound strange if we name the recent coach of Bad News Eagles one of the best coaches in CS:GO. However, the devil is in the details, and the older fans won’t argue that Jonatan ‘Devilwalk’ Lundberg deserves his place in this rating.

Firstly, ‘Devilwalk’ is truly unique in the list of the best CS:GO coaches, as he is the only guy to win a Major in Global Offensive both as a player and the one standing behind players’ backs. Secondly, he was one of the first coaches to be related to the era when Team fnatic were really unstoppable in 2014-2015.

What looks even more insane are his coaching stats for fnatik — 9 victories from 19 LAN events, which is close to 50%. To feel the difference, ‘zonic’ has 27%, ‘B1ad3’ 20%, ‘RobbaN’ 17%, and ‘zews’ only 10%. However, those were the times when the role of coach wasn’t as crucial as in recent years. Later, his best result with eight more teams was a single semifinal in the tier 2 event in 2020 with GODSENT.

adreN — Eric Hoag

Many remember how unstoppable Team Liquid was in 2019, winning seven prestigious LAN events and grabbing the 2nd Intel Grand Slam in a record two months. Speaking of sharpshooters, have you ever wondered who the best awper in csgo is? Dive into our detailed analysis. However, much fewer fans remember the one standing behind the backs of the North American squad — Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag.

From the list of the best CS:GO trainers, ‘adreN’ has the longest playing legacy, which is about five years, one of them even after his coaching role in Team Liquid. For a comprehensive view of individual achievements, our CS:GO player world rankings provide insights into the top players globally. However, his main trophies came from the coaching staff, and 7 out of 28 LAN events fixed his success rate at 25%.

Despite lacking a Major trophy, Eric Hoag became the person who threw off the top legendary Astralis team. In his 33 years, it’s unlikely to see him in the gaming chair and mouse in his right hand, while his return to coaching can be a huge boost to any professional team.

Conclusion

The game's evolution transformed the old-time IGL role into a separate position, bringing us plenty of candidates that deserve appreciation. No doubt that the ones like Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel (G2), Richard 'Xizt' Landström (Heroic), and Soham 'valens' Chowdhury (Cloud9) were doing a great job in their teams. Still, the aforementioned top CS:GO coaches created some type of an era (or dominated during some period) with their teams and therefore deserve special attention.

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