Five things to know about South Carolina’s new strength coach, Luke Day
Shane Beamer has identified South Carolina football’s new strength coach — Luke Day.
The Gamecocks’ head coach announced Day’s hiring Sunday, filling one of the most high-profile and important off-field jobs on his staff. Day replaces Paul Jackson, who spent one season at USC and was slated to earn $450,000 before COVID-19 related cuts reduced that total to $438,450.
Here are five things to know about the new man in charge of South Carolina’s weight room.
Marshall product
Day comes to the Gamecocks from Marshall, where he spent four seasons spread out over two stints — he joined the Thundering Herd in 2016 and stayed for three years under coach Doc Holliday, then left for a position at Colorado, his first job at a Power 5 program. His stay with the Buffs was brief though, as the head coach who hired him, Mel Tucker, left for Michigan State after one year.
That led to his return to Marshall in 2020, where he told the school’s athletics website that he missed Marshall during his year away and realized during that time that he got “sucked into the college football machine.” His second stay with the Thundering Herd was cut short, however, when Holliday was not retained.
NFL background
Though that year in Colorado was Day’s first time at a Power 5 school, he did have experience at an even higher level — the NFL. Before coming to Marshall, he spent a year in his native Ohio with the Cincinnati Bengals on their strength staff.
And in 2010, when he was first getting started in the business, he spent a summer as a weight room intern with the New Orleans Saints.
College football experience
Day comes by his strength and conditioning credentials honestly, playing his high school ball at Hamilton in Ohio, then spending two seasons playing defensive line at FCS Morehead State. He then transferred to Miami (Ohio) and immediately joined the strength room as an intern. He’s also had college stops at UCF, South Florida and Cincinnati.
Organizing a demonstration
Back in June 2020, Marshall football participated in a demonstration against systemic racism in the wake of the killing of Minnesota man George Floyd. During a voluntary workout, all the team’s coaches, players and staff took a knee for eight minutes, 46 seconds, the length of time Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck before he died.
The idea for the demonstration in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement came from Jennifer Price, the wife of defensive line coach J.C. Price, according to the The Draft Network. She took it to Day, who spoke with administrators and players to make it happen.
“It wasn’t just about let’s just do this one thing; it was very important to the (players) that it was not a box checker to where we just make sure we address Black Lives Matter and move on,” Day told The Draft Network. “We wanted it to kick off ongoing discussions, communication with campus affairs, the dean of students and the president of the university as well as other members of the city of Huntington.”
Video breakdowns
Fans interested in Day’s philosophies and practices as a coach can get a taste of them online — Day is featured in several videos on YouTube describing his thoughts on building up tough players, the importance of breathing and balance and even the benefits of crawling. Day earned a degree in physical education from Miami (Ohio) and even helped design a weight room at Mount Healthy High School in Cincinnati.
