Day's way to play: Ex-Hog quickens overhaul strategy

Todd Day did not watch one second of video of Philander Smith through the season's first 12 games.

"I knew it was bad," the first-year coach said. "I just didn't want to have another reason to be harping on the same thing."

After a six-game losing streak entering a holiday break and 10 days off, Day couldn't resist. He watched his team play, and the dysfunction explained the 5-7 record after a 5-1 start. Changes were needed.

His best offensive player, senior forward Chris Ward, started coming off the bench. The Panthers started playing up-tempo on offense and pressing on defense, the way Day played for Nolan Richardson in the early 1990s while becoming Arkansas' all-time leading scorer.

"The old Razorback style," Day said earlier this week while sitting in Philander Smith's Mims Gymnasium, which overlooks downtown Little Rock from a perch just south of Interstate 630.

The changes appear to have worked. Philander Smith, 14-16 last year, is 4-2 since the losing streak to move into second place in the NAIA's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Panthers (9-9, 3-2) are averaging 80.5 points in the past six games and are third in the NAIA with a plus-5.8 turnover margin.

"I think they're starting to buy in," Day said.

He is in his first season as a college coach, a jump he had sought for a while, but he's hardly new to any of this.

Since a seven-year NBA career finished in 2001 and he last played with the Arkansas Aeros in 2007, he's coached at the semi-pro level, at two high schools in his hometown of Memphis and has helped coach Team Penny, the accomplished Memphis-based AAU team that he runs with childhood friend Anfernee Hardaway.

Day said he's never had a problem in the role of head coach, academic adviser and even as the driver of a 15-person passenger van, which Philander Smith uses to get to road games. But his ambition, he said, always has been to coach on the level where he starred with the Razorbacks: His endgame is to be a "big-time collegiate coach."

He's talked with Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson, who recruited him out of Memphis in 1988, at various times about assistant jobs. The conversations haven't gone anywhere.

"I am a little salty that I'm not on the Razorbacks staff," said Day, before adding, "it's my school. Those are my guys. Coach A is my guy. I'm not salty at them. I'm just salty at the situation.

"But, you know, that's not my choice. So I'll keep plugging."

The approach mirrors advice given to him by his stepfather, Ted Anderson, who retired last year after coaching for 44 years at Memphis high schools. Anderson detected Day's frustration about the lack of Division I opportunities, and he urged Day to use Philander Smith as a springboard.

"I said, 'Build that program right there, take that from ground zero and take it as high as you can take it,' " Anderson said. "Do it with class and dignity, and you'll be recognized for it."

Anderson, who coached Day at Hamilton High in the 1980s, isn't surprised his stepson is where he's at now. Day was comfortable a year ago coaching his alma mater in the winter and one of the country's most successful AAU programs in the summer. He led Hamilton to a state championship in February 2015 and then Team Penny to a national runner-up finish with a team that included K.J. and Dedric Lawson, who are both starting at Memphis.

But Anderson sensed Day wanted more.

"Any coach worth his salt is going to have aspirations of the next level," Anderson said.

Nolan Richardson isn't surprised Day uprooted for a small college job, either. Richardson saw Day at his playing best while scoring a record 2,395 points for the Razorbacks.

"The thing about Todd is," Richardson said, "whatever job he has, he thinks he can do it. That's just his make-up. He's not afraid to make a move."

Hired in June, Day didn't have much time to build his own roster. School administration gave him the freedom to do so, he said, but he held off. He brought in three players, two from Team Penny, but redshirted them so they could adjust to college life and get their grades in order.

His original plan was to play a slowed-down game until he got his players in, then turn up the tempo. But when the Panthers fell to 5-7 after a sixth consecutive loss Dec. 29, Day had 10 days to stew. Day decided to install his system based on the defensive style of Richardson and an offensive style borrowed from Mike Dunleavy, for whom he played with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The first order of business was to get his players in shape. In the middle of January, as the conference season was underway, he used a portion of practices for wind sprints.

Ward, averaging a team-best 18.2 points, was hesitant to come off the bench, but he had nothing against a new style that has allowed him to shed 25 pounds during the season.

"We were losing," he said. "So I was up for anything. We all respect Coach Day. He knows what's best for us. He's watching us every day."

Philander Smith next plays Tuesday at Bacone College. Day thinks the Panthers can challenge for a league title, especially with upcoming games against league favorites Dillard and Xavier.

If not, he'll keep pushing as he recruits more of his own players. He knows Philander Smith can't recruit with Arkansas, Kentucky or Memphis for some of the best players on Team Penny, but, "every now and then one or two will fall through the cracks."

Day's commitment to his current employer is backed up by a decision to turn down interest last summer from Dunleavy, who called to gauge Day's interest in an opening on his Tulane staff. Day said the call came about a week after he took the Philander Smith job, and he couldn't bail on the opportunity so soon.

"I'm here," he said. "Right now, I'm just giving my 1,000 percent to Philander and see what happens. That's with every job. If you're doing well, somebody will notice you. In order to move on, you have to do well."

Sports on 01/28/2017