Inner Circle's head coach jR has officially stepped down, and his successor is assistant coach stikle.

Ukrainian CS2 powerhouse Inner Circle announced on Friday that 32-year-old Dmytro Cherkak (ID: jR) will no longer serve as head coach. He will not be leaving the team but will instead join the IC management team.

jR has coached several CS teams, including Run or Die, Beatera, and NEXT LEVEL. In September 2025, he joined IC with the core members of NEXT LEVEL. To date, he has led his team to a record of 125 wins and 107 losses, winning the Super DraculaN Season 1 and the 2026 RES Autumn Finals European Championship, and helping IC rise to 26th in the VRS global rankings.

All indications suggest that jR's departure is closely related to the team's recent qualification situation. With IC eliminated in the group stage of the third Stake Pulse tournament, they now need at least a top-two finish in the upcoming Stake Ranked Season 5 to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Singapore CS2 Major alive.

According to the official statement, jR's successor is 28-year-old IC assistant coach Christie Kola (ID: stikle-). For stikle-, his first task upon taking office is to lead the team in Season 5 and Season 6 of the Stake ranked seasons.

Since joining IC in June of this year, stikle has been assisting jR as an assistant coach. His most well-known achievement in his coaching career is undoubtedly leading the Bad News Eagles to the Legends stage of both the Antwerp PGL Championship and IEM Rio in 2022.

Following a series of personnel adjustments, the current IC roster is as follows:

Rifleman: Arseni Drevinsky (ID: cptkurtka023)

Sniper/Rifleman: Daniel Valitov (ID: headtr1ck)

Rifleman: Eduard Petrovsky (ID: zeRRoFIX)

Commander: Victor Barbie (ID: onic)

Rifleman: David Bibik (ID: Dawy)

Head Coach: Christie Cora (ID: stikle-)

Image source: Internet/Dust2