New Esports Chief Aspires for High Scores

Brandon Parramore is taking over Florida Southern College’s highly successful esports program.

Parramore was announced as the new Director of esports in July and he brings good credentials both from the gaming and regular sports world.

For a year, Parramore was the esports manager at the University of Montevallo (Ala.) where he oversaw a team of 35 students who played League of Legends, Overwatch, Valorant, and Rocket League. Prior to taking over the esports role, Parramore spent a year and a half as an assistant swim coach and recruiting coordinator at Montevallo.

"I am extremely excited to join the Moccasin family as the Director of esports this coming fall," Parramore said. "I have followed this team since its inception and have always had my eye on being a part of the program and it is an honor to carry the mantle of director. I look forward to bringing a new twist to the program while also carrying on the winning traditions."

Parramore is also a competitive esports athlete himself having competed on a top-10 ranked North American Guild in World of Warcraft. He helped his team earn a third-place finish at the 2022 World of Warcraft North America Mythic Dungeon Invitational, as well as a sixth-place finish in Cup B at the 2023 World of Warcraft Global Mythic Dungeon Invitational.

Parramore has a connection to Florida Southern as well, with his younger brother Dylan having graduated from FSC in May while also being a member of the Mocs’ esports team.

Brandon will be taking over a program which has captured a pair of Peach Belt Conference titles, winning the PBC Rocket League title in the Fall of 2022 before claiming the PBC League of Legends title in 2023. This past spring, the team earned a bid to the College League of Legends National Tournament. The team has gone 93-47 over the past two years, which includes a 31- 6 Peach Belt Conference record. The Moccasins were the PBC League of Legends Runners-Up in 2022, crowned the League of Legends Champions at the Battle for Florida (2022), NACE League of Legends Semifinalist (Fall 2022 and Spring 2023), as well as receiving an invitation to compete in the inaugural ENASCAR Rocket League Invitational at Daytona International Speedway (2022).

Parramore is a 2019 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University where he received a bachelor's of arts in business administration. He went on to earn a master's of science in sports management from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2021.

We recently caught up with Brandon to ask him a few questions.

The Brandon Parramore File

Age: 26

Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.

Education: Master of Science in sports management from Arkansas-Little Rock 2021; BA in sports management and marketing from Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)

Experience: Two years in esports, six years in college athletics, and lifelong gamer

Q&A

What drew you to Florida Southern College?

“FSC has always been an interest of mine. My younger brother Dylan Parramore was a student/esports player here for four years and I have always been one of his biggest supporters. In the process I learned as much about FSC as I could.”

How do you plan on continuing FSC’s success in esports?

“My number one goal is to keep the success train going. My plan to keep this going is to use my recruiting skills that I have learned through college athletics to bring that component to the program here to not only bring in some of the best talent but also grow the size of the team.”

What do you perceive to be the biggest challenge taking over such a successful team?

“The biggest challenge when taking over any successful team is continuing the traditions of winning, while also adding your new twist to the program. Overcoming this challenge can be difficult in its own ways but learning the ins and outs of the program, as well as getting to know the people who play a part of it helps.”

What do you think the biggest challenge is facing any esports manager, like yourself?

“I believe the biggest challenge for esports managers includes the lack of information that most high school gamers receive about esports. It presents difficult challenges when trying to bring people into your program. Luckily, the market for esports grows every year and it is becoming more of a standard to have an esports program at universities, so this information is becoming way more widespread.  You do not want to have moments in your program where the team size is growing smaller.”

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games? What’s your favorite video game currently and historically and why?

“When I'm not working you can usually find me playing video games. They have always been a passion of mine and I consider it more of a lifestyle than anything. My favorite video game, which I still play to this day, is the MMORPG game World of Warcraft. It’s essentially a big community-based game where you play with people from all around the world. When I was young, the game came out in 2004, me and my older brother picked up the game and I was just drawn to it instantly. Gaming runs in the family but we all have our different favorite games.”

Do you think you can compete with your students? Or if your students challenged you to a game, what’s the game in the current rotation you think you’d best stand a chance against them?

“I wish. My students play games that are completely different than mine and some of them are at the top of the leaderboards. I believe if I put in enough time playing a few of their games I would be able to put forth the smallest challenge. If I had to pick a game where I would stand a chance it would most likely be Overwatch.”

More information on Parramore and the esports team can be found here.