BRANDON, Man. – After an intense three-year run with Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based team, coach Adam Kingsbury was ready to take some time away from the game.

Until he got the call from one of the top curlers on the planet.

“I wasn’t planning on coaching this year,” the Northern Ontario coach told TSN.ca. “I wanted to spend some more time at home, but when I got the call it was a pretty obvious choice to come and work with them.”

Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie rink have far and away been the best team this week at the Tim Hortons Brier. They sport a perfect 6-0 record following Tuesday's action with their skip averaging a 92 per cent shooting percentage per game.

However, Kingsbury was not brought on to teach a better delivery or improve strategy. A team that has won Olympic gold and a Brier Tankard simply doesn’t need any technical advice. Instead, the mental performance consultant has been the fixer for a problem that was deeper than whether to throw an in-turn or out-turn.

“The biggest thing for our team was the psychological aspect and mental aspect of the game. We needed more help with that than anything,” Jacobs said earlier this week.

Jacobs, third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harden and lead Ryan Harnden are playing their eighth season together and are one of the longest tenured teams in the sport. Despite reaching the top heights of the game, Jacobs admitted his group was on a “teetering point” at the end of last season following a tough run at the Olympic trials and a loss to Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the page playoff 3 vs. 4 game at the Brier.

Kingsbury has been integral in getting Team Jacobs back on track, says the skip.

“We had one of two directions to go and that was either down or up. I believe we picked the right guy for the job in Adam,” said Jacobs. “I really think all of the issues and all of the tension, the stress, the problems our team was having was in between the ears for all four of us.

“He’s done a great job of figuring out what makes us tick and how to communicate with us, helping us work on things we need to work on.”

The 35-year-old Kingsbury helped Homan capture her third Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and first world championship in 2017 before reaching the Olympics last year in South Korea.

The husband and father says he’s seen tremendous personal growth with Team Jacobs this season, a major key to their calmness and productivity this week at Westoba Place in Brandon.

“How do you help with that?” asked Kingsbury. “You create a trusting relationship first and foremost and develop a bound that lets the players self explore. Examine areas that could be a blind spot. We all have blind spots. Whatever I can do to help them see that and come up with plans on how to manage things perhaps a little bit easier. Honestly it’s been a pretty easy job.”

Something that is well known about Kingsbury at this point is he has never curled at an elite level. It's a fact that is not relevant at all when it comes to coaching, says Kingsbury.

“Competitive experience by no means is associated with being a great coach. It can be a benefit, but being a coach is a very different skill-set,” he said. “That’s something I take quite seriously. How do you get the best out of people in moments like this? Throwing a rock under pressure doesn’t necessarily teach you those skills.”

Not only does Team Jacobs have a mental guru in Kingsbury behind the scoreboard, but they also have a doctor. Lee Toner, an emergency physician from Sudbury, is serving as the team’s alternate, but brings so much more to the table than most fifths.

“He’s a very smart guy,” Kingsbury said of his bench mate. “His pulse never goes above 55 on the bench and that kind of naturally feeds into everyone else.”

Team Jacobs is 46-16 in 2018-19, picking up event victories at the Grand Slam’s Tour Challenge in Thunder Bay and Canada Cup in Estevan, Saskatchewan.

The road to the Brandon Brier has had some bumps for Team Jacobs, however. Fry was thrown out of the Red Deer Classic in November while substituting for another rink due to excessive drinking.

The 40-year-old apologized and took full responsibility for his actions. After taking some time away from the team, Fry has been tremendous since his return in early January, averaging a 94 per cent shooting percentage at the Brier.

“The game is something I’ve done my whole life and I love it,” said Fry. “One mistake doesn’t make a man.”

Times are great right now for Team Jacobs as they will likely head to the championship pool atop the Pool A standings. Kingsbury says this is just the beginning.

“We’re on the eighth hole so far. There’s a long way to go,” said Kingsbury. “We need to find a way to maintain this consistency.”

Team Jacobs square off against Yukon Wednesday afternoon in the round robin finale.