An Era is over
PapaSmithy Leaves 100 Thieves
In 2019 Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith joined 100 Thieves as their general manager, leaving a position as a caster in the LCK behind and moving to Los Angeles to try something new.
Now it seems like their paths will be going separate ways as his contract expires at the end of the year, meaning PapaSmithy will be leaving the org and moving onto a new adventure.
LoL: Goals and Aspirations Don't Align
In a post on Twitter 100 Thieves announced that PapaSmithy will be leaving the org after the expiration of his contract and thanking him for his dedication to the team for the last three years.
PapaSmithy also went to Twitter to explain his reasoning behind leaving the org. He states that he was excited and happy to have helped build a competitive League of Legends squad basically from scratch with 100 Thieves being a brand-new org at the time of his joining.
I wanted an opportunity to start a program from scratch to get to truly experience what it means to comeoete at the higehst level. [...] What I'm most proud of in my time at 100T is the depth of the League of Legends program we were able to build.
Unfortunately, the team's goals and aspirations for the upcoming season in 2023 didn't align with the vision PapaSmithy seemed to have had, as he explained in his Twitter post where he explained that he went through multiple talks with management ahead of the League of Legends World Championship.
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It was clear that the shared vision of the kind of Legaue of Legends program we wanted to build together in 2019 no longer fit the goals and aspirations of 100T for 2023.
Therefore, PapaSmithy continued to support the team throughout Worlds where 100T finished with a 1 and 5 record in their group. He did state that he is leaving this position with his head held high thanks to the success of his League of Legends squad in 2022.
100 Thieves managed to make two LCS final appearances and was always part of the top tier teams in the LCS. We wish PapaSmithy all the best on his next endeavours, whatever they might be!