In League of Legends, the owner and head of the largest LoL team Team SoloMid is currently under heavy criticism. Andy “Reginald” Dinh (29) has been leading TSM since 2009 and turned the team into a business power. But now criticism of his leadership methods is emerging.
This is Reginald’s career:
- In 2009, Reginald founded the website Solomid.net together with his brother for League of Legends: Here, there were already early guides in the early phase of LoL.
- From 2011, a professional team formed around the site. It was then called Team SoloMid (TSM). Reginald himself played in the midlane of the team.
- As early as 2013, Reginald ended his career as a professional and focused on business: Within a few years, TSM won 7 titles in the USA, signed European LoL players like the Dane Bjergsen and made them stars. In addition, they built a huge social media presence and a veritable infrastructure along with merchandise. Meanwhile, TSM is the most valuable and largest eSports organization in LoL.
Pro speaks out against Reginald, gets fired, continues
What sparked the criticism against Reginald? The trigger for the criticism against Reginald is a publicly held dispute with former professional player and TSM streamer, Doublelift. He is considered one of the most influential players in American League of Legends history. He was an 8-time LCS champion, 4 of those times with TSM.
Doublelift said in a stream that he hates TSM, mainly because of Reginald. He apparently felt mistreated and sidelined by Reginald.
Reginald then expressed criticism of Doublelift himself. He stated that while Doublelift is a great player, he is difficult to deal with. He can never make up his mind, hardly anyone likes to work with him, and Doublelift constantly flames people publicly when he doesn’t like something. Therefore, he will be let go.
Doublelift calls Reginald a “bully” who constantly tyrannizes his players
This is what Doublelift said about Reginald: After his dismissal, Doublelift really went off. Doublelift called Reginald a “bully”, a schoolyard thug who suppresses the weak:
“People don’t like working with him. He is like a bully who gets away with being a bad person because he is powerful, because people are afraid to confront him, and I am really fed up with it.”
Doublelift
Doublelift claims that Reginald lacks decency and respect for other people. Over time, he has made many LoL professionals who were at TSM cry.
“You’d be damn surprised if you knew how many of your favorite players in the LCS really had a breakdown because they were treated so badly – how harshly they were verbally attacked.”
Doublelift
According to Doublelift, that’s why everyone is leaving TSM. They are just fed up with Reginald.
Players find ancient evidence for Doublelift’s accusations
How was the criticism received? The community has intensely dealt with Doublelift’s accusations and has found some video clips in which Reginald has harassed a player in a way that matches Doublelift’s description.
But cvMax is also said to be overly ambitious and to have mistreated people working for him if they did not meet the expected performance:
The fascinating case of the LoL coach who allegedly choked a player
The two most well-known clips are already 8 years old:
- There is a scene from 2013 where Reginald annoys and provokes the then Top laner of TSM, Dyrus, until he explodes (via youtube).
- In another scene from 2013, TSM is seen driving home from a defeat in a car. Reginald seems to blame the player Wildturtle for their defeat. However, he does not speak to Wildturtle but addresses the driver, while next to him WildTurtle silently endures everything (via youtube).
- In a more recent example from 2020, jungler Akaadian explains that he has retained “post-traumatic stress syndrome” from his time at TSM because Reginald made such harsh criticisms of him that it shook his self-confidence. Akaadian played for the club in 2019 (via youtube).
This is how it’s being discussed: On reddit, this is a big topic. Users say they also see Doublelift critically but join in the criticism of Reginald. He has always been difficult since the early days of LoL – but over the years he has learned to hide it better. At some point, people forgot how bad he used to be – but apparently he hasn’t changed at all.
There is much, and sometimes ugly criticism of Reginald:
- It is said that as a player he was already terrible. The worst professional LoL has ever had.
- People are not fans of Reginald, but fans of TSM despite Reginald.
- Especially the Dyrus video concerns many, as Dyrus is considered one of the most beloved and kindest LoL players of all time.
Of all people, the “victims” defend him
Are there also people defending Reginald? Surprisingly, it is the people who appeared in the videos from 8 years ago who are speaking out for Reginald.
Wildturtle says, for example, that he never perceived Reginald as such a “verbal abuser” but rather as a passionate owner who wants his players to perform. Reginald has apologized to him, and Wildturtle now considers him a good friend.
Also, Dyrus mentioned that Reginald is extremely ambitious and that the line between personal and professional is often blurred. However, there were only a few outbursts, like the video from 8 years ago with the keyboard.
Many of the early eSports teams failed because they treated and paid their players terribly. Reginald was always different and did everything for it.
Today they are friends (via twitter). Dyrus urges people not to judge others solely on their worst moments.
What doesn’t sit well with Doublelift is again that former players are now defending their boss. He calls it “disgusting”; they shouldn’t be surprised if fewer people speak out against the people who abuse them.
Reginald is extremely successful in LoL and has built a great organization over the years. His case reminds one of the Korean coach cvMax: He also worked incredibly successfully in LoL and formed two teams out of nothing that made it to Worlds.
But cvMax is also said to be overly ambitious and to have mistreated people working for him if they did not meet the expected performance:
The fascinating case of the LoL coach who allegedly choked a player
