Like It Is

Adopted state offers Day latest challenge

Philander Smith College president, Roderick Smothers, left, intorduced former Razorback and NBA basketball player, Todd Day, center, as the school's new head coach on the school's campus in Little Rock on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
Philander Smith College president, Roderick Smothers, left, intorduced former Razorback and NBA basketball player, Todd Day, center, as the school's new head coach on the school's campus in Little Rock on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

While Arkansas Razorbacks fans cheered, Memphis fans jeered.

The dream for Memphis Tigers fans was Todd Day would sign with the home team and later be joined by Penny Hardaway, who as a sophomore in high school was becoming a legend.

Instead, Day became Nolan Richardson's biggest name recruit for the Razorbacks, followed by Lee Mayberry who along with Day would lead the Razorbacks to a 115-24 record and a 9-4 record in four NCAA appearances, including the 1990 Final Four.

A footnote here: Like Day and Mayberry, Ron Huery was a McDonald's All-American, but he suffered from personal struggles during most of his time at the UA.

MayDay was the battle cry from 1988-1992. Both were drafted in the first round of the NBA, and more importantly, both came back to the UA and got their degrees.

And both were born to coach.

Mayberry has been serving on Mike Anderson's staff the past two seasons, and until June 15, Day was coaching at his alma Mater, Hamilton High in Memphis.

A week ago, Day was announced as the new head coach of the Philander Smith Panthers, an NAIA school whose most famous graduate is Elijah Pitts from Mayflower.

Pitts played football at Philander Smith and went on to play on the first two Super Bowl championship teams, the Green Bay Packers, who he played for 10 of his 11 NFL seasons.

After retiring as a player, Pitts coached for more than 20 years and became the assistant head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

However, that is not all the sports success for Philander Smith.

Sam Weaver had led the Panthers to two Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championships and three NAIA national tournaments. Weaver left recently to become the head coach at Texarkana High School.

As soon as Day saw the vacancy on the internet he started making calls. He wanted the job. Coaching on the college level has been his dream for many years, and Day has paid some dues. Before becoming a high school coach, he worked on the Razorbacks staff while finishing his degree.

He coached five years at Memphis Academy of Health and Sciences and has worked summers coaching Hardaway's AAU team.

Day, 46, has spent most of his years in Memphis, but he's always left the door to Arkansas open. He spent some time playing for the old Rimrockers, Little Rock's entry in the ABA for a few years. Plus, his wife is from Little Rock.

This move will be seamless, but it holds challenges such as budget limitations and building a fan base.

Day can help both, but he will need to be as good of a coach and fundraiser as he was a player, and the 6-6 Day was wildly talented as a player.

He is the all-time leading scorer for the Razorbacks with 2,395 points, and what makes that even more impressive is that his teammate, Mayberry, is third on the scoring list with 1,940 points.

Day's NBA career was on the rise in his third season with the Milwaukee Bucks when he averaged 16 points per game. In his fourth season, this one with the Boston Celtics, he averaged 14.5 points.

But he never seemed to have his heart in the grind of an 82-game schedule, or perhaps he was just waiting for the day when he could do what he wanted most -- teach the game.

Day's career at Arkansas was spectacular and brought great expectations, but with a twist of irony it ended in an NCAA Tournament game against Memphis in Milwaukee.

Day led Arkansas to an early lead, but Hardaway helped lead the Tigers in the 82-80 comeback victory. Now, though, Day is coming back to his adopted home state.

Sports on 06/22/2016

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