South Carolina football signs key staffer to new contract
South Carolina football strength and conditioning coach Luke Day has earned a new contract with the Gamecocks.
GamecockCentral confirmed on Friday that Day was getting a new deal. This week, though, the terms of his updated contract became official. USC’s Board of Trustees agreed to revise Day’s contract–last updated in 2023–from a $450,000 annual salary to $525,000. The extension will keep him around Columbia as Football Head Strength and Conditioning Coach until the end of 2026.
Get the inside scoop on all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days—lock in this special offer!
2025 will be Luke Day’s fifth leading USC’s strength and conditioning program. Not the stereotypical archetype of a college strength coach, Day emphasizes team-building activities and unconventional workouts as much as usual weight room exercises. He made further tweaks to the Gamecocks’ offseason workout program ahead of the 2024 campaign, and the results were overwhelmingly positive.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we had an elite summer and credit goes to, obviously our players, but Luke Day and his strength and conditioning staff,” head coach Shane Beamer said last August. Early returns this offseason have been strong, as well. If that continues, that can only mean good things for the Gamecocks this fall.
Top 10
- 1New
Blurred out QB
Vols protect INT thrower
- 2Hot
Top 25 WR units
Ranking the pass catchers
- 3
OLB rankings
Top 25 in college football
- 4
College Football Playoff
Ranking Top 32 teams for 2025
- 5Trending
Top 25 College QBs
Ranking best '25 signal callers
Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Beamer spoke highly of Day during a press conference on Monday. Said Beamer, “He’s remarkable–Luke and his entire team is.” The Gamecock head coach continued, “They do a great job. They think outside the box. I think a lot of strength coaches, there’s just this cookie cutter here’s how we do it because every strength coach in America does it this way. Luke and his team, they do a great job of thinking outside the box and finding better ways of doing things.”
Prior to arriving in Columbia, Day spent time working in the strength programs at Marshall, Colorado, Cincinnati, USF, and UCF. He also worked in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints. Day played college football at Morehead State before getting his start in coaching at Miami (OH).
