Ideally, people should be able to devote their lives to things they love. Offensive tackle and tight end coach Robert Day is new to the school, but throughout his life, Coach Day has been working hard at what he loves: teaching students and coaching football.
Coach Day was the head coach at Magnolia High School for 16 years. Before that, he coached for three years at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Coach Day’s football career began at Vilonia High School, where he played football all four years, followed by four years playing at ATU.
During his high school years, Coach Day played as an offensive line linebacker. In college, Coach Day was a defensive lineman.
“In high school, I played for a small team,” said Coach Day. “We learned to play every position.”
When a coaching job here opened up, Coach Day was the first to get his foot in the door.
“Har-Ber’s one of those school’s I’ve always had my eye on,” said Coach Day.
Coach Day joined the staff after Spring Break, taking on four classes and a coaching position right before the start of spring offseason football.
“It’s such a weird thing for me to come in the middle of the semester,” said Coach Day. “It’s a little bit overwhelming at times.”
Magnolia High School is drastically different from Har-Ber, especially in size. Magnolia has about 600 students total; whereas there’s nearly 600 per graduating class here. Especially in football, the difference is noticeable. While Magnolia competes in the smaller 5A Southwest division, Coach Day will now be coaching in a 7A conference.
Coach Day will be working with offensive tackles and tight ends on the football team.
“In 22 years, I’ve coached about every position on the field,” said Coach Day.
For Coach Day, coming to Springdale wasn’t all about the football. Being a classroom teacher at Har-Ber is his number-one priority.
“I enjoy being in the classroom and want to do everything I can to be a great teacher,” says Coach Day, “and do everything I can to help kids learn and achieve goals.”
When he came to Springdale, Coach Day brought his family with him. His son Carter will be a junior on the football team next year at Har-Ber, and his daughter will be in the seventh grade at Hellstern Middle School. She plans to be a future Wildcat softball player. His 27-year-old son played on his team at Magnolia High School and now lives in Little Rock.
Building relationships between students, players, and teachers is Coach Day’s priority.
“It’s the most rewarding part of it,” said Coach Day, “and right now, it’s just a race to learn the Har-Ber way.”