Ryerson Rams men's basketball coach Patrick Tatham runs the sideline during action against the Brock Badgers in Toronto on Feb. 3, 2016.Alex D'Addese/The Canadian Press
Amid all the hype and hoopla of the Ryerson Rams' record-breaking victory at last weekend's OUA basketball conference championship came a moment Patrick Tatham will cherish.
The Rams were clawing back from a 13-point deficit against Carleton in Saturday's final. At a key moment during the fourth quarter, third-year guard Jean-Victor Mukama – "probably one of my favourite players I've ever coached" Tatham says – threw his wiry six-foot-eight frame at a 50-50 ball, and Ryerson got the call.
"[Mukama] got up and looked right at me, and said 'I want it more!'" Tatham said, with a hearty laugh. "I was like: 'Thank you!'" Tatham is making the most of his season as interim head coach as the Rams continue to rewrite one record after another. Last weekend's OUA title was the first for any Ryerson team in any sport – and earned Tatham OUA coach of the year honours. They climbed to No. 1 on the Canadian university rankings earlier this season, another Rams first, and remained there for four weeks. And they're the top seed, for the first time, at this week's CIS championships in Vancouver.
But what will truly stick with Tatham is the strong bond between his players, and their fierce desire to win for one another.
"These guys are like a family, it's unreal to me," he said. "I think usually the best teams come together and they really play for each other, not for themselves but for the team. These guys have really bought into that mindset.
"It's been great, I feel so proud that they all play for each other."
The 32-year-old Tatham – the older brother to Olympians Tamara and Alisha Tatham – is filling in for Roy Rana, who took a year's sabbatical after leading Ryerson to a 17-2 season and best-ever bronze at the 2015 CIS championships.
Now Tatham finds himself a favourite to win the Stuart W. Aberdeen Memorial Trophy as CIS coach of the year.
Rana has known Tatham since he was 14, coaching him on various Ontario provincial teams, and says "he was just a really nice kid who had an incredible fire and an edge to him as a player."
After Tatham's college career playing at Cleveland State, Rana hired Tatham as an assistant. It was a volunteer position at first that had Tatham working odd jobs, including graveyard shifts in factories, to make ends meet.
"He's fiercely loyal, wears his emotions on his sleeve," Rana said. "He's just become a very talented young coach, connects with players, and he's passionate about the sport, wants to learn, really curious … a little bit of an introvert but really starting to blossom that way, his confidence has grown immensely.
"And he's just had an incredible year. I'm just so happy for him, to watch a young person blossom in front of your eyes is always special."
It's also been a special season for Tatham's sisters, who both played at the 2012 Olympics and credit Patrick for sparking their interest in the sport. Alisha, 29, retired after London, and will work this week with Sportsnet's broadcast team at the women's CIS championship. Tamara, 30, will play for Canada this summer in Rio, and is back home from playing professionally in Australia to recover from a stress fracture in her shin.
The sisters have been courtside cheerleaders for several Rams games.
"It's been great because (Tamara) hasn't really gotten to see me on a sidelines at all in four years," Patrick said. "She was like 'Wow what a season. This is great Pat. You're good!"' "It's been so cool to see him coaching these guys," Alisha said. "Patrick has always been such a humble and personable guy, and he's always been a leader, both as an older brother to us but then on various teams he played on. So just to see him in that element with the young guys. . . He challenges them, and can get into them and demand a lot from them. But in the same breath, he can sort of guide them and teach them the game.
"I remember watching one of the games and they got into a huddle, and Patrick had them all standing and they were all staring at him. That shows that respect he's gained from the guys."
The Rams, who open the Final 8 on Thursday versus host UBC, went 17-2 in the regular season. The turning point came during an early-January stretch that saw them play at Harvard, then return home to beat York and Queen's just three days apart.
"We played so well, and I thought 'Wow, OK, something may be happening here,"' Tatham said.
The following weekend they knocked off perennial powerhouses Carleton and Ottawa to earn top spot in the rankings.
Ryerson's women's team also made its CIS tournament in Fredericton, as the No. 5 seed. The Rams face Regina in their opener.