FSC Hires Head Coach to Lead Mocs Overwatch Esports Team

Florida Southern College has named Elliott “Hayes” Hayes as the new head coach for its Overwatch esports team. Hayes will coach remotely, beginning immediately.

The Mocs Overwatch team recently finished their first week with their new head coach with two victories in the Spring 2021 Overwatch Collegiate Championship tournament.

Hayes has been coaching Overwatch professionally since the game’s release in 2016. For two years, he served as the head coach for the Philadelphia Fusion, an official esports team in the Overwatch League, helping the team secure its second-place finish in the 2018 Grand Finals. For three consecutive years, Hayes has been nominated to coach the United Kingdom’s team for the Overwatch World Cup.

“I’m looking forward to joining FSC and getting myself involved within the collegiate scene,” said Hayes. “My hope is, through my experience, to educate and build players through winning habits and mindsets that allow them to develop skills that will help them move into higher levels of competition.”

Hayes is the second industry professional to join the Mocs Esports program as a head coach, after the Florida Southern League of Legends team welcomed Jiajun “Austin” Yu (known by his gamertag, “Gate”) as their coach in February.

“Hayes is another great addition to our program,” said Drew Howard, Florida Southern’s director of athletics and dean of wellness. “He’s been at the forefront of competitive Overwatch since the game’s release. His knowledge from his time in the official esports league for this game is invaluable, and our players are going to benefit greatly from their time with him.”