Esports hires new coordinator to coach teams

Esports officials have brought on a new esports coordinator to coach the teams and help them prepare for tournaments.

A year ago, Dr. Amy Cataldi, dean of arts and sciences, started the esports club on campus. The program has grown to include multiple teams, a venue, an esports management major, and now, a coordinator.

Paul Vaughan, esports coordinator and head coach, is a recent graduate from Boise State University, which has a varsity esports program. He graduated with a degree in Information Technology Management.

Vaughan said he found the job opportunity on a website called hitmarkerjobs.com, which is a job board for esports postings.

“Esports is just a huge passion for me, so I wanted to see if there was anything out there that might fit my skillset for esports, and I came across this job on there, gave it the application, and Jeff seemed to really like me,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan said he’s still getting used to transitioning from someone who would ask questions to being the person who has to have an answer.

“I’m getting asked ‘hey can we do this,’ and I’m like ‘oh, I have to be the person who says no or yes to that. It’s just me. I’m the person who has complete control over that,’ so it’s been an interesting turnaround for sure, and I think I’m learning pretty quickly,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan also said while it is in talks, he probably won’t be teaching Esports Management.

“There’s a chance I might come in as a guest speaker for like a class session or two, but maybe not teaching an entire class,” Vaughan said.

Keegan Johnston, design and production freshman on the Smash Bros esports team, said he’s happy the university hired an additional person to work on esports so the previous coordinator, Jeff Price, wouldn’t have too much to handle on his own.

Price was unavailable for comment. 

“It’s actually a really good thing to have someone who’s dedicated to working with esports full time,” Johnston said.

Vaughan said he’s been brought on to help develop the varsity program and make sure OCU’s team is represented well. He also said there’s going to be an upcoming Esports event with the Oklahoma City Blue.

“Blue is the sister team of the Oklahoma City Thunder that plays in the minor leagues. One thing I’m working on right now is a tournament coordinating with them on Feb. 29, called the 1Up-Open. It is a six-game tournament with some of the proceeds going to charity. Also, the ticket sales will get you into the tournament as well as the basketball game itself,” Vaughan said.

For more information about the 1Up-Open, students can go to the OKgamers website. OKgamers is an organization for supporting videogames and esports in Oklahoma.