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HHS' New Football Coach Has Winning Attitude

Day's experience with Westfield and Centreville brings new energy to Hornet football.

Brian Day is now Herndon High School’s head football coach, and he is gung-ho about becoming part of the Hornet family. 

“This will be my first opportunity to take charge of a program from A to Z," said  Day. "And I’ll be honest, I m extremely excited about it."

Day spent the 2011 season as Centreville quarterbacks’ coach grooming Mitch Ferrick, who led the Wildcats all the way to the Virginia state championship game in just his first year starting at quarterback.

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“Mitch was one of those kids who lived for playing high school football at his high school,” Day said.

The Hornets' new coach also claimed great success while coaching as an assistant and junior varsity coach for Tom Verbanic of Westfield High School from 2002-10. Day played for Verbanic at Fairfax High from 1990-93. He spent nine seasons working with his former coach, who won 100 games and two state championships with the Bulldogs in his 11 seasons at the helm.

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“A lot of my philosophy comes from having Tom as my coach—‘We’re going to win because were going to do all the right things and take care of business,’” Day said. “When you believe that, it becomes a philosophy, a program, and a way of life."

The Hornets will now be powered by the “zone-blocking” offensive scheme, which has worked wonders for Westfield throughout the past dozen years. Coach Day did not reveal his entire "bag of tricks" in his offensive scheme for obvious reasons. But if it resembles anything close to the successful strategy former Bulldog and current Washington Redskin Evan Royster ran behind on Westfield’s 2003 State Championship team, Herndon can look forward to pounding opponents between the tackles and moving the chains. However, Day did say the offensive scheme is flexible and lends itself to teams who lack size. 

“It does help teams with smaller offensive lineman,” Day said. “You’re asking kids to double team at the point of attack. It gives you a better shot at winning where you’re your trying to run the ball.”

One bonus within the system—it allows for quick adjustments when defenses lock on to your game plan. While Day is confident in the scheme, he said a coach must be willing to adjust to the talent available on a team.

“You definitely have to have your system as a coach, but you have to be willing to adapt to what you have in the school,” he said. “I think [zone-blocking] can be run at any school regardless of the talent. The more talent you have the better it is—I think you’ve been able to see what they’ve been able to do running the zone offense.”

Herndon will lose last year’s leading rusher Josh Schow (1,074 yards, 12 TDs) to graduation this June, but it would be no surprise if Darrius Hicks competes to become the new star running back in 2012. Hicks excelled as a sophomore in relief of Schow in 2011, while racking up 406 yards on the ground, seven total touchdowns and an average of 10.3 yards per carry. Sweet hands and extra yards after the catch are two bonus features in Hick’s repertoire as well—he caught 11 passes for 275 yards out of the backfield last fall.

The talent available at Herndon is one reason Day said he made the decision to come to town.

“That’s one of the reasons I was so excited about the opportunity to come over to Herndon, because for the last 10 years, I was able to see what’s come through Herndon,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of kids who are going to benefit.”

Day said he believes in making the most out of what you have in life—a lesson Herndon’s players and students should find fortunate. The coach said he wants students to get involved in whatever way possible: cheerleading, band and coming to games. He would also like to see the field filled with kids at tryouts next season.

“I want the opportunity to work with all of them,” Day said. “I know the experience in high school and what it meant to me. I hope that’s something later in life kids I have coached will say, ‘Hey, I had a great experience in high school.’ Not just in winning, but in terms of being a part of something that was special and something that was fun. When you do all the little things, winning will take care of itself.”

So, how does the new coach get things started? He said the first step is meeting the players and to “create an expectation.” Then he will build his staff. And what makes a good assistant coach?

“You have to be a great teacher and that’s an important part of coaching,” Day said. “You need to spend that time with kids. When we build strong relationships, then the winning starts happening.”

While well aware of how much importance is put on winning, especially in the Concorde District, Day said he has to be careful of maintaining the right focus. What might separate him from many coaches is his belief and understanding that winning is a result of the journey. And Day wants to achieve that result with the family he will form in the new Herndon program.

“If you want to have a winning season, what you want to have is a winning program,” he said. “Part of that great experience is going through the ups and downs. You want kids to see we’re going to work hard, play hard, and do some great things. But the most important thing is, we’re going to do it together.”

Day said Verbanic was the main reason he had such a wonderful experience in high school. He taught him the values needed to accomplish his dreams in life. Now Day wants to share that knowledge with his players and he and his fiancé felt Herndon was the place to do that exact thing. And together with the Herndon community, the coach said they can build something very special.

“Being part of a community makes it much more special and it’s not just about the football team,” Day said. “That’s the best part of playing at Herndon. Everybody knows your name and it’s important to them... it’s special. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Herndon—the quality of people working [here.]”

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