Red Lion Christian Academy (Bear, Del.) football coach Eric Day announced his resignation last Friday after turning a woeful 1-9 team his first season into a state championship-caliber program last fall.
"My resigning was based on me and the development of me," Day said in an email the morning after his announcement. "It was a tough decision, but in order to be a strong Christian leader you have to constantly evaluate where you are in your own personal relationship with Christ."
Day's four-year tenure at the Bear private school included players receiving Division I scholarships, having his phenom quarterback
David Sills IV make a verbal commitment to USC as a seventh-grader, and turning the program into one of the state's best with plans to make it a national power.
But Day's legacy at the school will always be tainted by the events of last season when his top-ranked team was barred from the state tournament after the program was found by the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association to have held excessive practices and played too many games. The school also came under fire for its admission standards, tuition scholarship disbursement and questionable recruiting practices.
Day is no longer working at the school but said he will stay involved in the operations aspect of the program. He has not set a timeline for a return to the sidelines, but said he will "if it is in God's will and plan." Associate head coach Dwayne Thomas will take over as head coach and Day said the entire staff will return next season.
The former Delaware State University assistant said he has no regrets, but did become frustrated this past year with all the controversy surrounding the Red Lion program.
"The biggest frustration over the last year has been people who do not know me or the people intimately involved in our program who question our motives and actions," he said. "Our goals have been consistent since I arrived at Red Lion: We want to get our kids in college and closer to Christ."
