kakafu on gob b removal: "It came as a surprise"

The Austrian coach was caught off guard by the removal of veteran gob b from BIG's ranks.

BIG make their way to IEM Dallas in the wake of a critical change to the lineup, with long-time head coach Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik being removed from the team's active roster after a 13-16th place finish at ESL Pro League Season 19.

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gob b removed as BIG coach

The German side got off to an unfortunate start to their campaign in Texas, faltering to Major winners Natus Vincere after a tight BO1. This loss moves BIG down to the lower bracket where the team is set to face off against FlyQuest for a shot at keeping their run alive.

Shortly after the loss to Natus Vincere, BIG's new head coach Alexander "⁠kakafu⁠" Szymanczyk discussed gob b's removal and his own transition away from the assistant coach role, the changes in approach he is seeking to implement in the lineup, and the team's all-or-nothing views regarding their end of the year goals.

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Commiserations on the loss, it was a pretty close game. Can you tell me about what the prep was like for this event, considering the circumstances around gob b?

The news came one and a half weeks ago that we were going to switch the coach. It came as a little bit of surprise for all of us, also for me. From one day to the other, I took over. We basically had a week to kinda start installing some ideas that I have, and how I think I should run the team.

Otherwise, we didn't change too much yet, because obviously, we had to see how all the players felt. The prep was basically normal like any other tournament, just that this little interruption, or big interruption (laughs), was in there. Overall, I think it was pretty good, and we feel very comfortable on a lot of maps, so I'm not too worried. I think if the players show up we'll be prepared.

You said you were caught off guard by gob b's removal.

Yeah.

Shortly after he got cut he went on Twitter and said that he was also surprised by the move, but he also described it as player-initiated. If you weren't involved in that, was it the starting five? How did it come about?

That one was from the management. The management basically, on the day that they wanted to remove him, they asked me if I was ready for the task and if I would like to go for the next tournaments, and that's how it went. How the players handled it, or whatever the tweet was, I have no idea.

Does that mean you're taking over the head coach role on a permanent basis, or are you just doing the next few events?

I think that the tweet from BIG was like in-between, but what the organization told me is that I would take over the head coach position for now.

How do you plan on approaching the head coach role? You'll have a different style from gob b, but how different? How do you plan on changing BIG's approach?

I mean from all my experience now, obviously I was in BIG, with the whole gob b, LEGIJA, tabseN trio when I joined, and I coached that team. That was the starting point for my tier-one [career], basically before I was in PENTA, but there I started to take over, and I learned a lot from them. When I went to OG and other smaller teams, I learned a lot about the international scene thinks. I worked with a lot of players, I had degster, flameZ, NEOFRAG, F1KU, all these names in there.

What I realized there was that what is really important, and the process that I want to start doing in BIG, is that I want to give a clear role to the player in the team. I think that was a little bit lacking before, a lot of players had to do a lot very well, and that sometimes led to some confusion. I think the process I'm here for is that everybody has a clear path, a role, and then we have to see if the player develops in that role.

I think if we give a lot of responsibilities on the players... because right now I think superstars dictate the wins and the losses, and I think the better the team harmonizes in that area, where everybody knows, 'Okay this guy is responsible for this, okay I adapt here but I can do this.' The better we get in this, I think we're gonna make a step forward.

So that role ambiguity was something that you picked up when you joined in February?

Yeah.

As an assistant coach what role did you have in working on that, and how are things different now that you're the head coach?

I think my role was pretty much the same, but you're obviously more helping the main coach than trying to install your own ideas. That means that if a task comes up that says, let's go through a demo with a player, or let's have a cool move here for the next official, or analyze our practices and see what we still need to balance things out, what strategies we're missing. This was basically more the helping department.

Obviously, they all already started to try and install these first ideas, obviously I mentioned all of this and we were already going down this path together. When I am assistant coach, it's more the idea that I have to adapt the idea of the head coach, and try to help him. As a head coach, it's more my ideas, and how do I install my ideas.

Over the past few years, BIG has had this cycle of going between international and domestic lineups. Cutting mantuu and going back to a German lineup hasn't seemed to fix much of the team's results. Do you think it's feasible for a fully German lineup to get the results that you want to achieve?

I mean, I think that question is more for the organization. I'm basically now the coach of the team, and whatever gets presented for me I will do my task as best as I can, and I don't know the future plans of BIG. If at one point the management says we want to go international, we go international, but that's kinda out of my hands. I do believe that there is enough good German players to make a top ten team, that's for sure.

What are the goals for the team in the second half of the year?

For every organization, it's basically you make the Major and you're in, you don't make the Major, you're out. I think that's the goal, and the more we get to the part, the better it is. If you make Majors you go up in the rankings, then you get the invites for the tournaments, and then everything is fine, because also for 2025 the franchise leagues are out.

I don't know how this will pan out, but I think everything will show at the Major. We all get evaluated by the organization, same as me, and we'll see. If we make Shanghai everything is good, and if we don't, everything is bad (laughs).