Athletic Director Jim Day Enters Final Year At BHS

He came to Berlin High School in 1976 from Central Connecticut by way of Ringwood, NJ, with long hair and a love of Bruce Springsteen music.

He will leave after having coached the BHS wrestling team to nine state titles and with the athletic program in arguably the best shape it has ever been in.

Jim Day, coach, teacher, athletic director, will retire at the end of the school year. 

The ultra-competitive Day, 58, has not ruled out a return to another school as an athletic director or perhaps a coach in wrestling or football. 

Day came to Berlin High School as a special education teacher in January of 1976. He graduated from CCSU and wrestled for George Redman there.

His teaching career evolved as the special education field was evolving.

"When I got here, we had two of us in the special ed. department," Day said. "Now there are 25 people working in special ed., including the paraprofessionals, aides and speech therapists."

Day, Marie Siegal and Mary Pera were also the founders of the Unified Sports program at Berlin High School.

"This school has always been at the forefront when it came to unified sports," Day said. "I'm really proud of that. We snuck funding out of the wrestling budget when there was no budgeted money. School districts still struggle to find money to fund that program. Schools around the country and the world, even, are trying to use the Connecticut model for Unified Sports and the CIAC model."

Former Berlin coach and Athletic Director George Hall and BHS Principal George Synnott have held positions with the CIAC involving Unified Sports. 

Day will be recognized for many accomplishments at Berlin High School, but his career as a wrestling coach has become the stuff of legend. He not only led the team to nine state championships but also sent numerous wrestlers on to college wrestling and coaching careers. 

"My classroom was on the lower level of the school and the wrestling room just happened to be right across the hall," Day said. "I heard a whistle one day, went in and met Bill Riccio. I volunteered that day and coached from that day on. Bill left to go to Avon High School and I think he won five state championships there.

"I started as the head coach in 1981-82 and we went 4-11 that first year. I always envisioned us competing at the highest level. Every year we competed harder in practice. Every year, we bumped up our schedule to take on the best teams in the state. As with any winning culture, it took our older kids getting a little older, buying into the hard work and effort, and teaching the younger kids as they went. I can't tell you how many times we walked out of that wrestling room saying 'Man, did they work hard today.'"

Below is his bio from his induction into the Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame:

Jim Day graduated from CCSU and began his career at Berlin High as a special education teacher.

In 1981 he became the head wrestling coach. In 1986 his team won the first of nine state titles. During the years 1985-1994 his teams finished either first or second in the state. From 1999-2003 his team won four straight state championships.

Coach Day’s teams won state titles in the Class S, M, and L divisions. He coached 19 conference championship teams, four New England champions, including the first from Connecticut, Rocky Urso, and eight New England place finishers. He had nearly 450 victories in his 26 year coaching career at the helm of Berlin Wrestling. Many of his former wrestlers have gone on to become successful coaches thanks to the skills he was able to instill in them.

Coach Day led wrestling exchange programs to three different continents, taking teams of Connecticut wrestlers to Russia, China, Mongolia, Italy, and Brazil giving the opportunity to many of his own wrestlers the experience of a lifetime.

Coach Day was inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004 and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Connecticut Chapter in 2010.

He was also the 1990 Connecticut High School Coach of the year, a Connecticut Sportswriters male coach of the year selection, Class M coach of the year in 1992 and the Class L coach of the year in 1992.

He is also the driving force behind the creation of the Berlin Athletic Hall of Fame.