Boston Uprising: Is HuK a Genius?

Chris "HuK" Loranger is the head coach of the Boston Uprising. The team's parent organization, the Kraft Group, owns the New England Patriots, who have the best coach in the NFL in Bill Belichick. HuK shares many similarities with this legendary coach and he is a key reason for the Uprising's surprising success.

Huk was originally a famous Starcraft 2 player, but he began his career in Overwatch as a coach. He became the coach of Toronto Esports and produced respectable results. But HuK really hit his stride when he was charged with preparing the newly founded Boston Uprising.

The original Uprising roster was composed of misfits. Out of the original roster, only main support Kristian "Kellex" Keller remains. He was part of an Uprising roster that was not considered a contender at the start of the OWL. But an almost flawless Stage 3 put the Uprising on the map. Despite losing Jonathan "DreamKazper" Sanchez to scandal, the team came together and shocked OWL pundits. Names such as Youngjin "Gamsu" Noh and Namjoo "Striker" Kwon went from obscurity to household names. HuK played an important role in the Uprising's success. He developed a reputation as a coach who could find diamonds in the rough, players other teams overlooked, and turn them into talent, just like Bill Belichick.

But also like Belichick, HuK had his own scandals. Despite the team's success, there was growing resentment among the team for HuK. The team was upset with his management style, leading to flex support Sehhyeon "Neko" Park leaving the team.

The Uprising entered this season as underdogs once again. HuK took a chance when picking up DPS Kelsy "Colourhex" Birche from the seldom looked at Australia region. He also added the first Brazilian in the League, Renan "alemao" Moretto and the now famous main tank Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth from Contenders.

These acquisitions were heavily scrutinized by commentators and many thought the Uprising would do poorly. Professional players even mocked Colourhex for being a low Elo player. But despite even more changes to the roster, the team has remained resilient under HuK's leadership. The team has won four of their last five games and have won all of their tiebreaker maps.

He may be loved by some and hated by others, but HuK is the only coach in the League with the audacity to take a chance on unknown players from all parts of the world. So far, his hunches have been accurate. Maybe one day, HuK will even bring in the first player from Antarctica to the OWL.

Photo courtesy of Boston Uprising and the Kraft Group