HomeBois’ Steven “Dale” Vitug was named the Coach of the Year in the MPL Malaysia Season 11 on Sunday.
Dale is the second Filipino coach to get the award overseas after Denver “Yeb” Miranda bagged the Coach of the Year plum in the MPL Indonesia Season 11 earlier this month.
The former Omega Esports head coach joined a HomeBois squad that was coming off a 5th-6th place finish in Season 10 and immediately transformed it to a contender in Season 11 where they finished third in the regular season.
Under Dale’s tutelage, HomeBois dispatched RED Esports MY in the upper bracket quarterfinals before stunning Team SMG and handing them their first loss of the season in the upper bracket semifinals.
Unfortunately, HomeBois’ lack of experience in crunchtime bit them in their last two series.
The team was a win away from securing a spot in the finals after taking an early 2-1 advantage over Todak. However, HomeBois folded and surrendered the next two which dropped them down the lower bracket.
There, the team faced off against Team SMG anew and once again claimed a 2-1 lead which they failed to capitalize on – resulting in a 2-3 loss that booted them out of finals contention.
Still, it was an impressive season for Dale and his HomeBois as they were able to prove that they are no longer pushovers in the league.
HomeBois finished third in the 10-team field.
Dale was part of the Dream Team alongside Muhammad “RIPPO” Halim of RSG Slate MY, Lu “Sasa” Khai Bean of Team SMG, Muhammad “Yums” Suhairi of Todak, and HomeBois’ Muhammad “Chibi” Nazhan and Rizky “Warlord” Agustian.
