Redbird Esports is kicking off its third year with the selection of the first three coaches in program history.
“The addition of head coaches for each of our varsity game titles is going to allow our already nationally competitive teams to take that next leap forward to ensure we stay at the top of collegiate esports,” said Redbird Esports Program Director David Kirk, M.S. ’16. “While we’ve had tremendous success in our first two full years of competition, the collegiate esports landscape has grown exponentially, and with that, the competition has increased at a rate where our players need that more advanced and dedicated support to thrive. Even with many of the traditional sports Power Five schools entering the scene, Illinois State and Redbird Esports intends to remain amongst the top programs in the country, and our coaches will help us achieve that goal.”
Learn more about the program’s new coaches who will lead Redbird Esports’ varsity Overwatch, Rocket League, and League of Legends squads.
Megan Lomonof ’05, Overwatch
Megan Lomonof ’05 is a lifelong gamer and alumna of Illinois State University who jumped at the chance to be involved with her alma mater’s esports program. Lomonof studied music education at Illinois State and has a strong interest in the interdisciplinary aspects of both gaming and music. After graduating from Illinois State, she attended the University of Cincinnati to earn a master’s in flute performance.
“That’s where I really delved into performance practice. Basically, how to practice and get really good at one thing,” she said.
Lomonof brings those practice skills to her Overwatch coaching. She joined her first team in 2017 and started coaching in 2018. When the Illinois State Overwatch club team was started, Lomonof was contacted by a member of that team for support, a role that she has remained in ever since. Being on the ground floor of the Redbird Esports Overwatch program makes her a natural fit for the head coach role.
“When you’re working with students, you’re developing all those peripheral skills, fine motor skills, teamwork, communication, strategizing. Which, combined with the academic experience, is how you make a great professional and not just a great gamer,” she said.
When not coaching Overwatch, Lomonof is a master sergeant in the United States Army and plays flute in the United States Army Concert Band.
Zachary Dell, Rocket League
Dell comes to Illinois State from Ohio State University where he recently graduated with a Ph.D. in mathematics. While at Ohio State, Dell coached their Rocket League squad, where he led them to a top-two national ranking. After graduating from Ohio State, Dell sought a Rocket League coaching position and saw the opening at Illinois State as a perfect opportunity.
Dell first started playing Rocket League shortly after its release during his senior year as an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University. As he started to dip into the competitive side of the game, he realized that he had developed a significant level of skill.
“In other games I had played, the competitive side was so out of reach because no matter what I did, it was hard to compete against the top players simply because they had been playing for so long,” he said. “But with Rocket League, I was right there.”
Dell’s goal is to bring the newer Redbird Esports Rocket League team up to the same level as their counterparts in Overwatch and League of Legends. He also sees a lot of potential for Rocket League as a spectator sport, as it is conceptually a much simpler game for esports outsiders to understand.
“It’s basically just soccer, right? You don’t need to try to explain it like you would explain League of Legends to somebody who has never played it before,” he said. “They hit the ball into the goal. Viewers might not know how it works mechanically at all, but they don’t need that knowledge to watch.”
TJ Bjorklund, League of Legends
Bjorklund grew up playing high-level soccer in the states and even had the opportunity to play in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, but decided to shift gears to League of Legends as he started his college career.
“I’ve always liked strategy games,” he said. “So, I guess that’s kind of why it stuck is because League of Legends is pretty strategy based. It’s kind of akin to chess. Obviously, it is not one-on-one, but it has a lot of similar elements to chess.”
While attending the University of Illinois, Bjorklund became a top-30 League of Legends player in North America. After graduation, he stayed involved in the scene by joining Illinois Wesleyan University as their head League of Legends coach. In that role, he not only coached but recruited players, created summer camps, and marketed the program.
Bjorklund saw the Illinois State opening as an opportunity to further build his skills with a team that is making big moves in the collegiate esports space. Bjorklund looks forward to working with the Redbird Esports team and serving as a mentor to the players.
“I have a lot of respect for the current players as well as what David has been doing here,” he said. “I’m excited to see how I fit into that.”
Redbird Esports currently supports Overwatch, League of Legends, and Rocket League at a varsity level. The program also support a number of other game titles at a club level including Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty, CSGO, Fortnite, and more. To stay up to date with the Redbird Esports program you can follow their announcements and updates on Twitter. They also stream the majority of their competitive matches on their Twitch channel.
