Members of the Simpson College esports team were informed via email that Director of Esports Hubert Whan Tong and Assistant Esports Director Seth Larson were fired.

This change comes from Simpson moving towards a new staffing model for the esports program.

According to Director of Athletics Marty Bell, the college felt esports should align with the three varsity programs who report to the athletics department but do not fall under the NCAA designation: shooting sports, dance and cheer.

These programs have part-time head coaches, and one program has one full-time head coach due to the risk level of the program. The new staffing model for esports will be similar.

“We feel this change will allow us to move forward with our Esports program and still provide a quality experience for our participants while recognizing the need to be fiscally prudent to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of the college for our students,” said Bell.

Between the salaries of the staff and the operating budget, the program costs just over $115,000 a year. All existing scholarships awarded for participating in esports will be honored, but it is unclear at this time if there will be esports scholarships in the future.

Whan Tong, former Director of Esports, worries about the future of the program, which had its largest roster of over 40 students in the 2024-25 academic year. He believes they will struggle to meet the membership guidelines of the National Association of Collegiate Esports and the Midwest Esports Conference.

Each conference requires a dedicated esports staff member who can commit to supervising practices, overnight travel, competitions and the academic progress of their students. Violations of these requirements could result in the program being terminated from the conference.

Esports have won four national championship titles in the National Association of Collegiate Esports conference, three regional championship titles in the Midwest Esports Conference, the Midwest Esports Conference Unified Program award and the Unified Social Impact award since the start of the program in 2021.

“I have faith that the next person will do the best they can with the resources they are given. In the last four years, it was an honor to be Simpson’s esports director,” said Whan Tong. “I was incredibly privileged to have worked with so many talented students, coaches and most of all my assistant director.”

Joe Degen, a member of the Super Smash Bros. team, is concerned with the change and upset at the college for how their decision will impact the program, which is well-respected among other schools in the Midwest.

“The esports program that Hubert and Seth helped create was the main factor in me picking Simpson over other schools l was considering, like Wartburg, Coe, and Central,” said Degen. “I guarantee that if you ask any of the directors of those programs, they can tell you how their program was either inspired by Simpson’s program or could tell you how important someone like Hubert was to the establishment of competitive college esports in Iowa.”

Degen is proud to be a part of esports and praised Whan Tong and Larson’s dedication and commitment to creating such a successful program. He finds it hard to see where the program will go from here.

Simpson will begin searching for a new leader to run the program in the fall.  

Editor’s Note: The Simpsonian staff is off for the summer but is committed to writing about important campus updates when possible.