The fallout from Kyle Whittingham taking the Michigan job alters BYU’s staff.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, during the Cougars spring practice, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2025.
BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill is on the move to follow his former head coach.
Hill will head to Ann Arbor to be Kyle Whittingham’s defensive coordinator at Michigan, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel reported Thursday morning. The former Utah player and assistant coach will reunite with his old boss and help lead a Big Ten program.
Hill spent the last three seasons in Provo, overhauling BYU’s defense and quickly asserting himself as perhaps the best coach in the state.
Kalani Sitake made Hill the associate head coach and BYU became the winningest program in the Big 12 in the last two seasons. The Cougars went to the conference title game this year, just their third season in the Power Four.
Under Hill, BYU went from one of the worst defenses in the country to inside the top 30.
Notably, Hill started recruiting at a much higher level. Most of BYU’s top prospects have come on the defensive side of the ball, with recruits citing Hill as their main recruiter. Hill flipped some of BYU’s top players from Whittingham, including star safety Faletau Satuala.
Replacing Hill may prove difficult. Sitake’s last defensive coordinator was his longtime friend Ilaisa Tuiaki, who was fired after 2022, with his defense allowing over 30 points per game.
Hill was the head coach at Weber State for a decade before coming to Provo. At Weber, Hill oversaw the best years in program history as the Wildcats won double-digit games and made deep runs in the FCS playoffs.
He has long had ambitions of being a Power Four head coach.
Hill figured to be in line to take over for Sitake as head coach when the time came. But that timeline got longer when Sitake signed a long-term extension this month instead of heading to Penn State.