Coach Nicholas "
Inero" Smith announced on Tuesday that he no longer wants full-time LCS coaching to take up such a significant part of his life after more than a decade in the industry, just two months after leaving Cloud9. He also stated that he wants to “
explore new ways to channel my passion for helping others" beyond simply coaching an LCS team.
Inero has not ruled out a potential return down the line, but for now, the veteran coach says he has no plans to return to competitive play. Back in late June, he announced that his focus would shift toward
coaching Team USA at the Esports Nations Cup, while remaining open to Tier 2 opportunities or working directly with individual players. However, he made it clear that a return to Tier 1 was not on the table.
An Early End to the Year Following ENC Cancellation
After the Esports Foundation announced that the Esports Nations Cup had been postponed until next year, Inero is now left without a coaching assignment for the remainder of 2026. At 32 years old, the American coach has been active in the
League of Legends scene since 2015, working across three different regions: EMEA, Oceania, and North America.
He first spent a year in the EUCS with mousesports before moving through several organizations, including ORDER, Echo Fox, and Golden Guardians, where he spent a significant portion of his career across various roles as an assistant, head coach, and even General Manager. He then spent a few months with Disguised in the NACL and Immortals in the LCS before joining Cloud9 in 2025.
Over at C9, following Inero’s departure, his assistant Christian "IWDominate" Rivera took over as Head Coach, alongside Marius "Veigar v2" Aune, Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon, and Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi, who joined the staff for the Summer Split. So far, the team finished third in the regular season and will face Shopify Rebellion to kick off their Worlds run in the playoffs.
