Todd Fitzgerald Day (1970–)

Todd Fitzgerald Day was one of the centerpieces of the University of Arkansas (UA) top-ranked basketball teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. After a solid career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Day returned to Arkansas, where he served as the head coach at Philander Smith College (now Philander Smith University) in Little Rock (Pulaski County) from 2016 until the fall of 2024.

Todd Fitzgerald Day was born January 7, 1970, in Decatur, Illinois. His mother was Nicolet Day, but little is known about his father. Day and his mother moved to Memphis, Tennessee, before he started high school, and she married Ted Anderson in 1985.

Day played high school basketball at Hamilton High School in Memphis under the watchful eye of his stepfather, a longtime coach. At Hamilton, Day was both a McDonald’s All-American and a third team Parade Magazine All-American. He also earned All-State honors and was the state’s Mr. Basketball for Class AAA as a senior in 1988.

After high school, the heavily recruited Day chose UA, believing that the school’s style was the best match with his talents. Playing under coach Nolan Richardson, Day was a four-year letter winner from 1988 to 1992. As primarily a shooting guard he broke the school’s scoring record, previously held by Sidney Moncrief, in his senior year. Day was named to the Southwest Conference (SWC) Newcomer team as a freshman, and he was an important contributor to the Razorback team that made it to the NCAA Final Four in his sophomore year. Day also helped UA win three consecutive SWC regular season and tournament crowns from 1989 to 1991, as well as the Southeastern Conference regular season crown in 1992. He was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 1990 SWC Tournament and he received multiple All-American honors as a junior and a senior.

While at UA, Day also represented the United States as a member of the U.S. team that won a bronze medal in the 1990 FIBA World Championships in Argentina, as well as being a part of the U.S. squad that won a silver medal in the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle.

He was drafted in the first round of the 1992 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks as the eighth overall pick, one of three Razorbacks selected in the first round. Starting in more than half the games in which he played, he averaged 13.8 points per game while also grabbing four rebounds per game. He posted similar numbers the following year before fully arriving in the 1994–1995 season, when he started in eighty-one of the team’s eighty-two games while averaging 16 points a game.

Despite his stellar 1994–1995 performance, eight games into the following season, Day was traded by the Bucks, along with Alton Lister, to the Boston Celtics for Sherman Douglas. Day spent less than two seasons with the Celtics, but he did record a career-best 41 points in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves while also tying Larry Bird’s team record of 24 points in a quarter.

Day had a brief stint with the Miami Heat, being signed as a free agent in September 1997, but after playing only five games he was released in November, after which he played for a year in Italy with Victoria Libertas, which was based in Pesaro. But after his year away from the NBA, he returned to the United States and signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Suns, appearing in fifty-eight games in the 1999–2000 season, averaging 6.8 points per game. After again being signed as a free agent in the off season, in 2000–2001, Day played in thirty-one games with the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 4.3 points per game in what proved to be his final NBA season. Over the course of nine NBA seasons, Day played in 483 games and averaged 12.3 points per game.

Day made a final foray into professional ranks as a member of the Arkansas RimRockers of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 2004. Day led the team to a 32–5 record in a season capped by a 118–103 victory in the championship game, in which Day scored 32 points and recorded six steals. Day was named 1st Team All-ABA and was an ABA All-Star. He also had a short stint playing with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Following the end of his playing career, Day coached at various schools at various levels. He coached son Todd Jr.’s youth team, and in December 2007, Day was named head coach for the Arkansas Impact of the short-lived Premier Basketball League. Day led the Impact, which played in Little Rock, to the 2008 championship game, losing to the Rochester RazorSharks; the league then folded.

Day then served for five years as head coach at the Memphis Academy of Health and Sciences, followed by a stint at his alma mater, Hamilton High School in Memphis. He also spent time as an assistant coach for Team Penny, a Memphis-based AAU team founded by former NBA star Penny Hardaway.

In June 2016, Day was named head coach of Philander Smith’s basketball team. In accepting the job, Day said, “I felt like coaching on the college level at Philander Smith College was a natural next step in my career.” He added that “Little Rock is like my second home, and it feels good to be able to come back and play significant role in this community.”

Inheriting a team that had finished under .500, he led the team to consecutive seventeen-win seasons. The team finished with a losing record the following three seasons, but in 2021–2022, it began a three-season run that culminated in an appearance in the spring of 2024 in the NAIA post season tournament, losing by one point in their first-round game. In his eight seasons at Philander Smith, the team compiled a record of 124–95 for a winning percentage of .569.

In September 2024, Philander Smith University announced that Day would not be returning for the following season and noted that Day’s son, Todd Day Jr., an assistant coach since January, would be the interim coach.

Day and his wife, Little Rock native Brenda M. Swinton Day, live in Little Rock and have two children: Todd Jr. and Natasha. In 2008, Day was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and in November of 2015, he was one of several former UA athletes inducted into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

For additional information:
Gladstone, Mitchell. “Day Stays Involved with Game.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 11, 2021. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/11/day-stays-involved-with-game/ (accessed August 13, 2025).

“Todd Day.” Basketball Reference. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dayto01.html  (accessed August 13, 2025).

“Todd Day on His Arkansas and NBA Career and Coaching.” The Field of 68, February 10, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZLz9tj4J7U (accessed August 13, 2025). [see Related Video in sidebar]

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School