A tough Daye for Heathwood Hall
By Michael Orr

Photo by Elizabeth Johnson Heathwood Hall Head Coach John Daye is the winningest coach in school history.

With 30 years of head coaching experience and two state titles under his belt, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School football coach John Daye will retire at the end of the 2007 season. Having coached in some capacity in the Midlands area since 1968, Coach Daye has left an indelible mark on his players, fellow coaches, and the community.

Daye came to Heathwood Hall in 1996 after a successful career of 30 years in Midlands area public school systems. At the request of a friend he spoke to then headmaster Robert Shirley and met with the Heathwood Hall players. The positive atmosphere surrounding the team and the school brought Daye into the private school realm for the first time. Eleven years and two state titles later, the most successful coach in Heathwood Hall history will be calling it a career.

"There is nothing like preparing for games," Daye says of what he will miss about leaving the world of coaching. The life of a coach these days is busy and intense due to the hours poured into preparation and developing camaraderie with players and coaches all focused on a single goal each week. But that process, knowing you did everything you could to teach, anticipate, and learn, is what Daye says will be the biggest void after retirement. "It is the most demanding part of coaching, but I really enjoy the game planning," he adds.

Yet, that growing intensity is what helped lead to Daye's decision to retire. With high school football stretching closer to a year- round schedule, the scope of sports has changed a great deal over the last 40 years. Daye spoke last spring with his wife Debbie about the prospect of retiring and what that life would look like. But this summer he said, "It was to a point where it was time for me to retire. There wasn't one thing, but you just know when you've gotten as far as you wanted to get."

But Coach Daye will not abandon the world of football all together. A self- titled pseudo- football historian, Daye is a collector of old football game films and is a student of the history and development of the game itself. "I'm old enough to have game film that is actually film," he says, "and when I want to relax, I'll put an old 1940s film in the projector and just sit back and watch."

Combining his wealth of practical experience from the sidelines and his love for the history of the sport, Daye hopes to take advantage of his retirement and continue writing about the sport he knows and loves.

Heathwood Hall's 2007 season will carry special meaning, as it is the swan song of one of the most well respected coaches in the area.

"John is as tough a competitor that you will find and as fine a gentleman you will find. His teams are well coached and play hard every play. It will be a tough loss for Heathwood Hall as well as a tough loss for the Columbia area coaches," said A.C. Flora High School coach Robin Bacon who has both coached and played against Coach Daye's teams.

According to Heathwood Hall headmaster Steve Hickman, "One of Coach Daye's great strengths is his ability to gain and keep the respect and trust of his players. The many young men who have played for John enter adult life with skills learned from him that will serve them very well."

While his record speaks for itself, Daye's greatest accomplishment has been reaching into the lives of his players and providing them with an example worth following.

The quality of Coach Daye and his focus on the most important aspects of sport are evident with his hope his players have had a good experience in football and have learned lessons about life in the process.