The Overwatch League 2020 off-season is underway, and the Toronto Defiant have struck early. They have signed head coach Dong-gun “KDG” Kim for the 2021 season. This former Philadelphia Fusion head coach was released, but the Defiant quickly picked him up earlier today.
Join us in welcoming @dgkimmm to the Defiant family as our new Head Coach 🙌 We're looking forward to your leadership in the coming season! #RiseTogether pic.twitter.com/ir3IfJHQRS
— Toronto Defiant 🖤 #RiseTogether (@TorontoDefiant) October 24, 2020
How good is KDG?
This signing of KDG has solidified the Defiant’s new beginnings. First, going into KDG’s past, he’s improved a lot as a coach. When he coached European contenders, he improved to good results in seasons but never got far in playoffs. After two seasons in Europe, he was picked up by the Seoul Dynasty, and got them to a semi-final finish in his first tournament. However, they never improved from that first stage and finished the 2019 season in eighth place.
But, in this most recent season, KDG became head coach for the Philadelphia Fusion. In the 2019 season, the Fusion finished lower than the Dynasty. Philadelphia were looking to be a formidable team once again. After losing in the semi-finals in the first tournament of their 2020 season, the team improved. With him at the helm, the Fusion finished second place in the every tournament afterwards. In the end, the team finished a remarkable second place in the regular season. It was clear that Philadelphia was a formidable team once again. But, the Fusion were eliminated first in the Grand Finals weekend, and the organization parted ways with him shortly after.
Will he fit in the Defiant?
We don’t know yet. But, earlier this week, we reported that the Toronto Defiant released ten players from their roster. It turns out that the eleventh one, DPS player Andreas “Logix” Berghmans, has re-signed for 2021.
incredibly happy to announce i will be staying with Toronto, means a lot to me and ill continue to show that in the future #DefiantForever https://t.co/o0pnEFpEoj
— logix (@logixow) October 23, 2020
With that signing, it is clear the Defiant want to go with a mixed roster for 2021. Plus, their standards aren’t as high as the Fusion’s or Dynasty’s. Both of KDG’s previous organizations wanted him to lead them to playoff victory. But, with Toronto, they simply want to get out of the bottom of the league. The pressure isn’t high, and he will have a say for which players end up joining the Defiant this off-season. With KDG’s trajectory, the Defiant have snagged a great head coach for that position.
