Dreams do come true in Coach WOLF’s world. With a background stemming from video game writing to being a household name in the MPL PH community, Caisam Yves Nopueto or more popularly known as WOLF seems to have dabbled in all different areas of Esports. Awarded as MPL PH S11’s Best Tagalog Caster/ Panelist and being one of the pioneers of analytic shout casting in the Philippines, and being phenomenal in analyzing drafts and strategies, everyone is delighted to learn that this MPL PH Season 14, he will be trying out his hands on coaching.
Via MPL PH Facebook Page
This season 14, we find Coach Wolf rocking orange and black as TNC Pro Team opens its doors to his coaching abilities. He is mentor to the team’s protégée players, Escalera, Kouzen, Kzen, Heads, Hatred, LanceCy and SDzyz as they aspire to bring TNC Pro Team to the playoffs, something that they have not done in 2 years since season 9.
Unfortunately, the bright side of the moon wasn’t in Coach WOLF’s favor in his first official MPL PH week of coaching, with TNC experiencing back-to-back sweeps from the teams they faced. Despite the momentary set back, Coach Wolf seems to still enjoy his newfound passion in Coaching. In a post-match interview, when asked how his experience in his first official coaching match was, Coach Wolf gleefully responds that coaching has always been a dream of his, and it is everything he dreamed of and more. He finds himself and the team excited all the time and that he is happy that he gets to do what he does.
Courtesy of MPL Philippines
When asked about the back-to-back defeat and how the team is processing it, Coach Wolf, with his head raised and chest full of pride for his team, responds with “[They] came prepared. I am very happy with the boys’ performance. MPL is MPL, anything can happen.”
We had a chance to get a one-on-one exclusive interview with the newly minted coach we wanted the questions to be quick and direct to the point in this quick exchange with the hot topic – rookie coach.
The community all agree that Coach Wolf’s accurate draft analytics and game predictions would come in handy in his coaching journey, but we wanted to hear it straight from the wolf’s mouth. When asked what he thinks his advantage is, he gave us 3 points to highlight: New ideas, number of matches he’s seen and lastly, his demeanor under pressure. Wolf confidently says “I am the captain of my own mental pag namaster mo yung pagiging kalmado and everything – I think that’s my advantage.”
When asked about TNC Pro Team’s strength this season, Coach Wolf hopes for the championship but still giving his team leeway with the bare minimum rank of 4th before the playoffs. “We want to get into the top four after the play-ins and we know we can. I sincerely believe that we can.” Coach Wolf replies with a smile on his face.
Courtesy of MPL Philippines
When asked who was the catalyst that brought him to make a decision to pursue being a coach, Wolf remained cryptic. While he cannot divulge their identity, he did mention that the person shares the same goals and drive in constantly looking for challenges in their careers. Oh, and this person was the one that introduced Wolf to TNC Pro Team. As for inspiration? Coach Wolf shares that he looks up to Boss Josh Mangan, part owner of TNC. “Yung vision nya at way ng pag handle nya ng tao is one thing that I want to emulate.”
Despite the huge clamor around Wolf joining TNC Pro Team to change the course of the team’s current MPL PH standing, the new coach remains realistic with his and the teams goals. He knows that their goal cannot be achieved overnight, but he believes that with his mentorship, the team can slowly reach their long term goal of constantly being in the playoffs.
To wrap up the interview, we asked the simple (but crucial) question: Why TNC? It seems like coffee took a huge part in this as his number one answer to everyone who asks this question is that, TNC Pro Team bought a pretty expensive espresso machine exclusively for him. The light hearted answer elicited a laugh from coach as he states that it was the inside joke between him and the TNC Pro Team members. But on a more serious note, Coach Wolf explains that he was drawn in by TNC Pro Team’s vision. He also shares that he sees it as a challenge to make TNC rise above their consistent Top 8 during previous MPL PH seasons. Coach Wolf stands by his belief of potential over superstars, “Yung vision din namin is to not get superstars – we wanna get players na alam namin na may potential kasi long term nga yung goal namin.” Coach Wolf then leaves us with this. “ Why TNC? Because, they believe in people.” But really, we think it’s the espresso machine (kidding).
Courtesy of MPL Philippines
To see more of Wolf’s coaching journey, stay tuned to MPL Philippines Season 14. Regular season happens from August 16 to October 6 at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati.
with additional reporting by John Christian Deada