Jacob "mini" Harris steps down from the Fnatic Head Coach position
Today marks the first day of the player transfer window for VCT 2024. Prior to today, organizations and the players have already started exploring their options for the next year. A lot of teams are already making interesting moves to increase their chances to get a better position.
As the rostermania kicks off, we have already received one of the biggest shockers for the year. Fnatic's head coach Jacob "Mini" Harris has decided to step down from the team. Mini will be looking for offers with a better work-life balance.
The Mini-Boaster Chronicles:
Mini started his Valorant journey with Boaster coaching for Sage Ult my Nan Football Club (SUMN FC). The deadly duo of Boaster and mini together with other players started SUMN FC. They took the first strike by storm, dominating other teams to reach the finals against Team Heretics. Unfortunately, SUMN FC lost to heretics in the First Strike Grand finals. But that was just the start for the deadly duo.
Soon, Fnatic acquired SUMN FC. Under the new banner, Fnatic and the Mini-boaster duo made huge strides. In 2021, the inaugural international year for Valorant, Fnatic were the first Grand finalist alongside Sentinels. Fnatic secured Valorant Champions with the amazing performance at the first international Valorant LAN. At the Valorant Champions, they lost to KRU ending their year.
The duo came back stronger in 2022, dominating EMEA. Unfortunately at the international stage, Fnatic always faltered at the final steps, not securing the podium finish in 2022. All this changed with 2023. For the upcoming VCT 2023, Valorant brought in Leo and Chronicle, creating a super team. This team started their domination with Superdome 2022. Their first win of VCT 2023 came with the single-elimination VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo. They completely annihilated everyone and did not drop a map until finals. The team's first loss came in VCT EMEA Finals against Liquid, but the team followed it up with a strong VCT Masters Tokyo win. The victory made them the first back to back Internation Valorant champion.
The Valorant Champions and the exhaustion:
Fnatic were the favorites coming into Valorant Champions 2023. Together with EG and Paper Rex, they were the top dogs of Valorant Champions 2023. Unfortunately, their journey was halted at the fourth place. During the whole year, Fnatic only lost to LOUD and Team Liquid. They lost a total of three series since the new team was formed. While doing so, Fnatic was exhausted, as the best team in every tournament and making deep runs in all of them, Fnatic had a strenuous schedule. Despite the unfavorable ending, Fnatic was the best team of 2023.
Stepping down and Future:
Dominating for a long time meant the team had to make immense efforts. Especially Fnatic and the mini-boaster duo were known for their utility usage, combination and the executions. The schedule took a toll on everyone and earlier this year, Mini expressed his dissatisfaction with the work life balance. He expressed the same with his step down tweet as follows:
"I have grown a lot from this experience but I would just like to be "Jacob Harris" a bit more and not "mini" 24/7 (Jacob's a lot more relaxed. Unfortunately, both are equally short)."
Mini's contract with Fnatic ended in 2023 and with it, Mini has now decided to step down from the Head Coach role.
Talking about the future mini says:
"Whilst conversations continue with FNATIC to figure out a suitable future, my contract has ended so I will also be looking at offers from other teams. The roles I would be most interested in are assistant coaching or GMing, I am open to exploring other roles if it made sense."
The decision marks the end of Mini-boaster duo and talking about his other part, Mini said:
"big shout-out to this dweeb, this year was a lot easier with him!"
Fnatic mini was one of the biggest brains in Valorant. With VCT 2024, being another strenous schedule, it makes sense why he'd want to take a step back and look for other offers. We wish mini the best of luck for all his future endevours.
Follow Strafe for more roster news.