Luke Day Selected to Lead the Football Strength & Conditioning Program
Former Marshall Strength Coach Joins Beamer’s Staff
University of South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer has tabbed Luke Day to lead the Gamecocks’ strength and conditioning program, it was announced today.
Day, who has experience at both the collegiate and professional levels, comes to Carolina after spending the 2020 season as the head strength & conditioning coach at Marshall University, his second stint with the Thundering Herd. Day worked on the staff at the University of Colorado in 2019.
Day initially joined the Herd as the head strength and conditioning coach in January of 2016, a position he held for three seasons. He was recommended by Scott Sinclair, Day’s predecessor, who in three years transformed the Herd strength and conditioning philosophy during a run of three-straight seasons of 10 or more wins by Coach Doc Holliday’s team. Day and Sinclair – who moved from MU to the strength and conditioning director’s role at Georgia – previously worked together at UCF under veteran strength coach Ed Ellis.
“Luke comes highly recommended from people I trust,” said Coach Beamer. “I spoke to a lot of strength coaches about our position and after spending 90 minutes on the phone with him, there was no doubt in my mind he was the best candidate by far. He has a great vision for developing the players, both in strength and conditioning and in the mental aspects, which is critical.”
Prior to his arrival in Huntington, Day spent one year as an assistant on the Cincinnati Bengals’ strength and conditioning staff.
Day is a native of Hamilton, Ohio, where he was significantly involved with inner-city ministry for the Hamilton Dream Center. Prior to his year with the Bengals, he spent two years as an assistant in strength and conditioning at UCF, following stints at USF (2012) and Cincinnati (2011-12). He also served as a summer volunteer in strength and conditioning with the New Orleans Saints in 2010.
Day graduated from Hamilton High School in 2006 and went to Morehead State, where he played defensive line for two years. He transferred “back home” to Miami (Ohio) and started working as a strength room intern and graduated with a degree in physical education.
His first job was designing, developing and implementing a weight room and strength program at Mount Healthy High School in Cincinnati, and through that work he made connections to the University of Cincinnati, where he spent 14 months on the strength and conditioning staff.
Day and his wife, Trisha, have a son, Jay and a daughter, Norah.
