Avery Meiste has joined the athletics program as head coach for Cougar esports.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Coach Meiste to our athletics family,” said Max Ballinger, Cleary’s director of athletics. “His passion for competitive gaming, student development, and team culture stands out immediately. As Esports continues to grow locally and nationally, we’re confident Coach Meiste will lead our program to new heights and create an environment where our student athletes can thrive in-game and in the classroom.”
Meiste comes from Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, where he served as director of esports.
While at Defiance, he oversaw the Yellow Jackets’ first action as members of the WHAC, competing in Valorant, Overwatch 2 and Rocket League. He hosted and oversaw tournaments and took his student athletes to LAN tournaments.
While completing his bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University in multi-media journalism, Meiste was an esports team captain for Overwatch, and game leader in Valorant. His coaching career started while he was in college. He coached esports for West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, and after graduation, he began working as a volunteer coach for Grand Valley’s Valorant club esports team. He was named the first varsity head coach for Valorant at GVSU in 2023 and continued to serve as the head coach for West Catholic High School. One year later, he accepted the head coach position at Defiance College.
“I’m excited to start making a positive impact on our student athletes’ college experience at Cleary,” Meiste said. “I’m a coach who’s deeply committed to creating a meaningful experience, and I look forward to helping this great group of student athletes build lasting memories.”
Cleary is one of only a few universities in Michigan that offers esports, a new, rapidly growing competitive sport among high school and college students across the country.
Esports draws a completely new population of students who previously weren’t involved in athletics; now they have a sport specific to their talents.
Cleary’s esports arena is outfitted with 18 state-of-the-art gaming stations and plans to add six more. The arena also is equipped with custom signage, chairs, mouse pads and broadcast equipment.
Research shows that students who choose esports are highly driven, with high GPAs, high test scores and high graduation rates. Through esports, they learn teamwork, camaraderie, school pride, time management and leadership.
