This year has been more than memorable for Team 3D; however, not for the right reasons. Team 3D has had more roster changes in this period of time than any other in their history. No matter how hard Team 3D tried, nothing seemed to work out. The cure or absolution has been deemed to be the additions of shaGuar and method, but I'm not so sure the pair have exactly what 3D needs.

One of the roster changes 3D undertook since January was the addition of former GotFrag playbook author and CAL Invite predictor Chris "bootman" Boutté. Although Bootman did a fantastic job writing playbooks and predictions, some wondered about the extent of his qualifications to coach such a big name team. Once employed by Torbull, Bootman's overall role was to bring strategic stability to the team via writing playbooks and giving you the 6th man appeal.

Everyone in the community can argue against Bootman for not producing wins for 3D, but the fault cannot be placed soley on Bootman when one realizes the players (more often than not) would simply ignore his advice. It's hard for a coach to control the tempo of the game, because the coach is not playing. However, it is very easy for a coach to see the team's major flaws via his eagle's eye perspective. Like it or not, the players failed to fully utilize their 6th man.

Bootman officially left Team 3D a few days ago bringing a close to his first coaching chapter. Bootman cited reasons for leaving: the team became unwilling to listen to his thoughts as well as a personal unwillingness to solely create playbooks. In turn, Bootman will return to his humble role in the Counter Strike community as sweetheart pseudo-celebrity.

In Bootman's eight month stay with Team 3D he attended five major LAN events with the team.

Acon5 Regional Qualifiers - 1st Place
Acon5 USA Finals - 2nd Place
CPL Spain - Lose 2 and BBQ
ESWC USA - Tied for 1st Place (coL won the "exhibition matches" over 3D afterwards)
ESWC Grand Finals - 9-12th

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I asked Bootman a few questions following his departure from Team 3D.

First and foremost, I'm going to ask what America (and possibly the world!) wants to know: what spawned the break in the relationship of one Chris "Bootman" Boutté (that's you) and Team 3D? Why are you no longer coaching the team?

It was a lot of reasons. After bad turnouts at events the team would come for help, but when it was time to start practicing again, that feeling went away. I basically just didn’t feel needed or wanted anymore for anything more than playbooks for events. That’s not what I signed up for.

Was your leaving of 3D a mutual thing or more one sided as a personal issue or administrative removal?

This past week I haven’t talked to the team much since we had a little conflict in a practice last week. I basically just sat around and looked at my financial situation and now that I know I can still pay my bills without the 3D check, I left. It may or may not have come as a surprise to the guys, I don’t really know.

During your span as coach of Team 3D, the roster saw more changes than any other time period in Team 3D's history. What was your role surrounding all of the roster changes?

Little to none actually.

Perhaps 3D's biggest roster change was the addition of shaGuar. Griffin is known to be a very strong willed player and not a fan of outside suggestions. Did you foresee a conflict of interest between you and shaGuar?

This is one of the main reasons I left. We were not getting along well. We had disagreements about strats, and he didn’t really see the use for me on the team either. This came as a shock to me when himself and Mikey joined seeing as how they have been good friends of mine for quite some time now. I was excited to have them on board, but when we started the practice, it was the biggest reason I left.

Have you had the opportunity to do any coaching or playbooking for the team since shaGuar and method joined the roster?

Not really. WCG USA would have been the first, or maybe some CAL matches. As for the coaching I had my work schedule changed so I could make practice and since the new guys joined, we had an off and on practice schedule. Not only that, but they refused to keep me up to date as to when we were practicing.

We all know that you were publically deemed 3D's "coach". What did the job title "coach" actually entail?

Playbooking teams, helping make strats, and pointing out individual as well as team mistakes they were making.

In the past few months you've been able to travel with 3D to various world class LAN tournaments. Was your role at the tournaments similar to the one that you play online? Of what did it consist?

Tournaments were a lot different because I couldn’t talk to them when they were dead, only during buy time. ESWC was the most coach friendly event and I had a great time there. I was able to talk to them during any time in the round and discuss strats at random and I was sneaking in the press area to playbook teams as well.

What was it like to travel the world with a group of guys to play (gasp) a video game?

I’ve been doing this for a while, so it was nothing that different. The best part was hanging out with some people I considered pretty good friends that could chill and talk about things outside of the game as well as go out and have a good time at night.

Can any of the recent months' successes or failures of Team 3D be directly attributed to you?

Of course they can. And I’m sure if you asked some of the players off the record they would probably say that. In my eyes though, I felt as though there were only a few people doing everything they could for the team and earning their paycheck, and I think I was one of them.

What mistakes, if any, would you attempt to correct if you had a chance to coach Team 3D again, having all the knowledge and experience you do after the fact?

Who knows. One thing that lead towards my decision was when we had our first practice with the two new guys and I brought up a problem that we’ve always had on de_inferno and I was yelled at and told "we're not going to talk about problems the old team had, this is a new team, we’re starting fresh", I replied with "just because we replaced one player, doesn’t mean the problem is nonexistent…", then I was told I was being counter-productive.

Would you say your time spent with Team 3D is the most memorable moment of your Counter Strike career?

Probably. It was a lot different than being a writer. Signing autographs and taking pictures with fans is surreal.

Do you have any desires to continue coaching?

I would love to continue coaching, just for a team that wants more than a playbook maker.

Will we be seeing a playbook done on the new Team 3D in the future?

Depends on what my future in gaming is. Whether it’s writing or coaching, there’s bound to be one eventually. It just might not be released publicly.

Give us your opinion, or a quick prediction if you will, on the "new" Team 3D.

Well the attitude that I have felt from the team is that these two have fixed every problem they have ever had and they will now be #1. My opinion is that only time will tell. All I hope, for the teams sake, is that if they don’t sky rocket to the top, that the two new additions stick it out with the team. They definitely have the potential to be #1 like I have always said.