Bye says goodbye, for now, to Bantam football

Growing up in Pomeroy, Brycen Bye admired Clarkston football from afar.

“Clarkston to me, was always the big time,” Bye said. “When I was reading the paper and (watching) KLEW, I saw this program as big, big time and so it was just an opportunity for a small town kid to take over a big-time program.”

After 11 years leading the Bantams, the Clarkston coach is hanging up the whistle to focus on his family.

“I feel so blessed to be able to have done this,” Bye said. “Clarkston treated us well all the way through and I just really appreciate it.”

Family first

Bye began to strongly consider stepping down from coaching at the end of this past football season in order to spend more time with his young family.

Bye and his wife, Sherilyn, have four sons, including 4-year old Bentson, 3-year old Kyser and 6-month old twins Lawson and Massey Bye.

“I’ve always wanted to be a great dad, be a great husband, be a great coach,” Bye said. “I just was starting to run out of time to be great at all three.”

With four sons, Bye said it is unlikely that he will be away from coaching forever and anticipates being involved in his son’s sports careers, whatever that might entail, when the time comes.

The 11-year Bantam coach will continue to teach algebra and geometry at Clarkston High School.

Never a losing season

When the Clarkston job opened up after the 2013 season, Bye said his father, Gary Bye, who still lived in Pomeroy, sent him the newspaper clipping of the job opening.

When he interviewed for the position, a member of the community asked him what he considered to be a successful year.

“On our bad years, I want to have a winning record,” Bye said. “On our good years, I want to be in the state playoffs.”

In 11 years as Clarkston’s coach, Bye’s team never suffered a losing season. His worst record was a 4-4 finish in 2021.

In Year 1 under Bye, the Bantams went 9-2. Bye won six-or-more games in nine out of his 11 seasons.

His overall record at Clarkston, with the 2020 pandemic season notwithstanding, was 70-32, according to Bye.

Bye’s Bantams beat Lewiston in his first season. After suffering nine straight losses to the Bengals since, Bye said he was not aware at the time how much that meant.

Some highlight moments for Bye include the Bantams winning their first playoff game in 30 years, 44-6 over Woodland in 2023, and a triple overtime win over Greater Spokane League foe West Valley of Spokane Valley in 2019.

Before moving to Clarkston, Bye coached for three years at Wahluke High in Mattawa, Wash., up the Columbia River from Vantage, Wash.

He spent a couple years as an assistant at Wahluke and before that as an assistant at Life Christian in Tacoma. Bye played football for University of Puget Sound.

Curtis’ mentorship

When Bye took over Clarkston football in 2014 at just 28 years old, he was not alone. The Bantams’ previous head coach of 28 years, Dave Curtis, offered to help him.

“He just sat down and he said, ‘Look, I know what a good assistant looks like and I’m telling you that I’m going to be the best assistant you’ve got, and I’m going to help you with everything you need help (with),’” Bye said, recalling an early conversation with Curtis. “I learned so much from him.”

Bye said that Curtis did not second-guess his decisions and instead focused on helping him be the best he could be at his own pace.

“There’d be times where I’d make a dumb call, and I’d be on the headset, I’d be like, ‘That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,’” Bye said. “And Dave (Curtis) would go on the headset and say ‘That’s a good call. ... You did the right thing,’ even though he knew what I knew — that it was a dumb call.

“He was willing to let me make those mistakes and he supported me through it.”

Bye said he will support whoever the next Clarkston coach is.

“I’m gonna cheer them on,” Bye said. “And if I can help them along the road, I’ll help them along the road.”

Bye’s legacy

Bye informed his team of his decision to step away from coaching on Friday. He said the kids were a bit shocked but understood his decision.

His legacy was visible in the comment section of his announcement on the Clarkston Bantams’ football Facebook page as current and former players and Clarkston families thanked him.

“If I was doing my job right, those kids are going to graduate and 10 years later they’re going to still talk about what Clarkson football meant to them,” Bye said. “How much of a great experience it was.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.