Damon Day will begin his eighth season as head baseball coach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney with the start of the 2011 campaign.

The Indiana native and graduate of Benedictine University (Ill.) has built upon UNK’s long tradition of success on the baseball diamond.

Currently with 196 wins as Loper skipper, Day has guided UNK to two RMAC (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) Tournament titles, three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, the schools first-ever appearance in the Division II Top 25 poll and the schools first back-to-back 30 win seasons.

Individually, Day has seen 28 different players earn All-RMAC honors the past six years with the Lopers having had the RMAC Player of the Year in 2007 and the RMAC Pitcher of the Year in 2008 and 2009. 

A former college pitcher, Day previously led NAIA Dana College (Blair, Neb.) for four years, turning the Vikings into a conference champion.

In his first year at UNK in 2004, Day was tabbed the RMAC’s Coach of the Year after he led a freshmen-laden squad to 19 wins while playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

Seven players earned All-RMAC honors with the Lopers picking up three wins over nationally-ranked opponents. In two of those wins, Joba Chamberlain would be the winning pitcher for the Lopers; Chamberlain is currently playing for the New York Yankees after finishing his collegiate career at Nebraska.

Day led UNK to 20 wins during the 2005 season with six of the victories coming against nationally-ranked squads. Outfielder Travis Kerkman would not only be named first-team All-RMAC for a second straight year but be tabbed All-West Region as well.

UNK had a break through 2006 season, advancing to the RMAC Tournament for the first time in nine years and having a winning record (28-27) for the first time in a decade.
  
 Along the way, Kerkman became UNK’s all-time hits leader (252), senior catcher Rich Eber led the RMAC in batting average (.438) and junior infielder Cody Lusero earned Academic All-District honors, the first UNK player to do so in seven years.

Day’s fourth season at the helm resulted in one of the most memorable finishes in UNK history in any sport.

Posting a 33-24 record, UNK once again made the RMAC Tournament and made some noise this time, winning four straight elimination games to win the event and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA’s.

Four Lopers would be named to the all-tournament team with Lusero earning MVP honors. The sixth-seeded Lopers beat top-seed Mesa State and third-seeded New Mexico Highlands (twice) en route to the title.

UNK’s ride wasn’t done as the team shocked the Division II baseball world the following weekend by beating No. 1 ranked Sonoma (Calif.) State, 8-7, in the first round of the NCAA’s in Los Angeles.

Down 7-0, the Lopers got a dramatic three-run homer from Lusero in the seventh, and a stellar pitching performance from senior lefty Cody Hovdestad, to beat the Seawolves.

Lusero would cap his senior season by earning a slew of awards, including RMAC Player of the Year, Academic All-America and All-America. Eventually playing professionally with the Lincoln Saltdogs, Lusero is UNK’s first-ever Division II All-American.
 
In 2008, UNK again won 30 games (34-27) and was unbeaten in the RMAC Tournament, scoring 54 runs to go 4-0 and earn another bid to the NCAA’s.

Four players made the all-tournament team with senior first baseman Joe Nowaczyk being tabbed MVP. Prior to the tournament, junior Ryan Sheldon was tabbed as RMAC Pitcher of the Year.

At the NCAA West Regional in Chico, Calif., the Lopers upset 25th-ranked Western Oregon, 4-1, in the second round behind a complete game effort from senior Ryan Wrobel.

A year later, UNK won 26 games and again made noise in the RMAC Tournament, winning its first two games before losing close battles with two NCAA regional qualifiers.

Sheldon repeated as the league's top pitcher as he set a new school record for wins and broke his own mark for K's in a  year. He was joined on the All-Central Region team by junior third baseman Blake Cover with senior OF Nate Swearer.

In 2010, UNK earned its first-ever at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, this time playing the regional in Farmington, N.M. The Lopers also hosted the RMAC Tournament for the first-time, winning two games before falling to eventual champion New Mexico Highlands.

Going 36-20 and winning the Plains Division of the RMAC with a 20-12 mark, the Lopers were ranked nationally early in the season after playing well at the Metrodome, former home of the Minnesota Twins.  Finally, the 36 wins were just one shy of the school mark (37, 1981).

A native of LaPorte, Ind., Day is a 1997 graduate of Benedictine. His first collegiate coaching position came in 1998 when he served as pitching coach at his alma mater. Day then spent the 1999 season in the same capacity at Division III Lakeland (Wisc.) College.

In his time with the Dana Vikings, he helped build a program that had only 13 players when he arrived but was GPAC (Great Plains Athletic Conference) champions four years later. Subsequently, Day was named the 2003 GPAC Coach, and NAIA Region IV, Coach of the Year.

As a player, Day was first a pitcher at Kankakee (Ill.) C.C. where he helped his team win the 1995 Region IV Championship. At Benedictine, he was a two-time all-conference selection who, in 1997, was selected to the ABCA All-Central Region team.

Day lives in Kearney with his wife, Jessica, and their children, Cody Jon and Emma.