Winthrop University Esports collegiate programme under fire after treatment of student

Winthrop University Esports’ collegiate programme is being criticised by sections of the esports community for its management and student treatment.

The wave of criticism was caused by several posts on X (formerly Twitter) revealing screenshots of a conversation between the programme’s Assistant Director Sheldon Williams and collegiate Overwatch player ‘Toad.’

On March 5^th, the first set of screenshots were shared by esports coach Christian ‘Woods’ Woods with the caption: “Never seen a director refuse to talk with someone before a paid application than subsequently poor shame them for asking for information on the school.

“But considering how many of these staff don’t even pretend to care about their players educations I can’t say I’m surprised.”

As Woods’ post had censored all names, numerous X users encouraged the coach to reveal the identities of the involved individuals as well as the name of the university. Today, Toad posted uncensored screenshots of the conversation between himself and Winthrop University’s esports programme Assistant Director Sheldon Williams.

Toad competes for Alvernia University Esports, a collegiate Overwatch team that Woods coaches.

After being approached by Williams, Toad showed interest in the university’s collegiate esports programme. However, the student was unable to pay the upfront $50 application fee due to their current financial situation.

Williams then listed the numerous achievements of the university’s collegiate teams, urging the Toad to apply before all spots are taken. In return, the student politely inquired about a possible waiver of the application fee.

However, the director insisted on the fee, claiming that ‘College is expensive anywhere’ and that ‘$50 is a drop in the bucket.’

Toad commented on the incident in the caption of their post: “Unacceptable behavior from what is supposed to be a leader in collegiate esports. If we want our competitions to be taken seriously, we need to start acting like professionals. A football coach would never speak to a recruit like this. Remember that YOU reached out to ME.”

The reaction of the collegiate esports community to Toad’s post has been overwhelmingly supportive of the student’s situation. Moreover, several notable esports figures criticised Williams’ behaviour as well as Winthrop University for their choice of staff and player recruitment practices.

“$50 is a drop in a bucket to avoid this kind of PR,” commented NACL caster Matt Samuelson.

Esports personality Ovilee May expressed her critique in a repost: “Breaks my heart to see the state of some collegiate esports programs.

“There were so many fantastic programs ran by people who wholeheartedly cared about seeing college students succeed in both their studies as well as building a career in esports and most are just gone.”

While there has been no official statement from Winthrop University since, Sheldon Williams has publicly apologised to Toad via a post on his X account: “I want to apologize to [Toad]. I understand that this is not the correct way to speak to students/recruits. I promise to be better moving forward.”

Interestingly, Eric ‘Wheats’ Perez, the coach of Winthrop’s Overwatch roster, also reached out under Toad’s post: “Sorry that this is the experience you had with Winthrop Overwatch. Feel free to reach out if you wanna talk about the academy team, although I understand if you are put off.”

Winthrop University’s esports programme was launched in 2019 with Josh Sides, currently the project’s Director, at the helm. Since then, Winthrop Esports has competed in Overwatch, Fortnite, Rocket League and more.

The university’s VALORANT team won the Collegiate Invitational at Dreamhack Atlanta 2024. In the same year, the squad participated in the game’s tier-2 Challengers circuit.

Furthermore, Sides and Winthrop’s Connor Doyle have won a Scholastic Esports Award in the categories Director of the Year (4-YR) and Coach of the Year, respectively.

According to an article by NECC’s Caleb Glube from August 2024, the university’s esports roster is expected to grow from 80 to 120 varsity or club members this year. The article further states: “Sides says the budget he’s working with currently is 10 times more than what it was when he started. That increase in budget allows Sides to recruit nationally and internationally renowned players…”