Rams’ Bryce excited about Year 2

Steve Bryce fielded a first-place team in his first year as the University of Regina Rams’ head coach.

Following that auspicious start, there is the need for refinement.

“I think you hope to get more fine-tuned as the time goes by,” Bryce says.

“There’s that whole adage that ‘A wise man learns from his mistakes.’

“Having gone through a full year, I don’t know if anything is getting easier. I think you just pay more attention to all of the things that are going on and all of the minutiae that is involved in the job.

“You just try to find a way to get things more streamlined. With a great staff like I think I have here, you try to get the duties shared as much as possible as time goes by.”

Initially, an incoming head coach can be tempted to micromanage, as Bryce can attest.

“Out of the blocks, that’s definitely what goes through your mind — that you have to have a hand in everything,” he says.

“But as you grow more and more comfortable with the excellence of the coaches around, I 100-percent feel that putting too much of a hand in on a lot of places wouldn’t be much of a help.

“My offensive co-ordinator (Mark McConkey) and defensive co-ordinator (Sheldon Gray) are two of the sharpest people around and they don’t need much help. I’ll contribute if asked, but those guys are highly efficient and very, very good at their jobs. I’m finding that the staff we have here is very, very good.”

The same applies to the players. “They’re fantastic,” Bryce says. “The guys who have been around here as players, they’ve been through a lot in a three-year span with some of the turnover that has gone on. They’ve really gelled together and become a solid group. We call our solid leadership group the Rams Union.”

The Rams are preparing for Wednesday’s exhibition game in Medicine Hat against the Calgary Colts.

Regina is to open its regular season Sept. 1 against the UBC Thunderbirds (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).