Michigan Football Coaching Spotlight: Jay Hill

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Very similar to the hire of offensive coordinator Jason Beck, head coach Kyle Whittingham’s decision on who he picked to fill the defensive coordinator vacancy seemed quite obvious. He was hired on Dec. 26, and less than two hours after Michigan officially named Jason Beck the offensive coordinator, the Wolverines delivered the news that Jay Hill would take over defensive coordinator duties.

Hill inherited a dwindling defense due to the transfer portal. But additions from across the country, along with some key returning pieces, should give him the tools he needs to find success this season.

Resume

Whittingham and Hill are quite familiar with how each other operate. Whittingham was Hill’s defensive coordinator when Hill was playing cornerback at Utah. Hill was a second-team All-Mountain West selection as a senior in 1999.

Immediately following his playing career, Hill became a graduate assistant at Utah from 2000-03. He then jumped around to different position coaching duties — including cornerbacks, tight ends, running backs and special teams — until 2013.

Finally deciding to leave Utah and Whittingham after 15 years, Hill took his first and only head coaching position to date with Weber State. Hill won four Big Sky titles in his nine seasons with the Wildcats. He left in 2022 as the winningest head coach in program history (68-39 overall) and the 2020 Big Sky Coach of the Year award.

Hill then took the BYU defensive coordinator job, where he also took on duties as the associate head coach and safeties coach. He took the Cougars from the 109th defense in yards allowed to 13th in one season from 2023 to 2024. BYU regressed slightly in Hill’s third year, ending 35th in total defense, but the one-year improvement was enough to convince Whittingham to hire him in Ann Arbor.

Why Michigan hired him

Very similar to Beck, Whittingham hiring Hill was a familiarity hire. As he aims to reset the culture in Ann Arbor, it’s easy to tell he went after coaches and players he felt comfortable with. Hill is a proven game changer having improved BYU dramatically.

Similar to Michigan defenses of years past, Hill is looking to bring aggression. That led to BYU having the third- and 14th-best defense at takeaways in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Again, similar to Beck, Michigan is likely just a pitstop on the way for Hill becoming a head coach somewhere in DI. It’s a feat he’s yet to accomplish and one he will likely try to reach after a few potentially successful seasons in Ann Arbor. But for now, Hill’s hire will keep continuity schematically and emotionally while Whittingham tries to establish his culture.

Recruiting, development and coaching philosophy

Many of Whittingham’s success stories are as much success stories for Hill. He had his finger prints all over the Utes roster during that time, but he struggled to build his own identity while he jumped between different position coach jobs at Utah.

When Hill finally settled down as the head coach at Weber State, he had the opportunity to completely take over and make the team into what he wanted. Weber State boasted Rashid Shaheed and Tron Johnson, who have both gone on to boast lengthy and prosperous NFL careers after coming from the DII level.

Hill also had no issue developing recruits at BYU. In 2024, he had standout All-Big 12 selections linebacker Tyler Batty and cornerback Jakob Robinson earn first- and second-team accolades, respectively. In 2025, it was safety Tanner Wall and linebacker Jack Kelly on the first-team, and linebacker Isaiah Glasker, safety Faletau Satuala and defensive tackle John Taumoepeau were recognized as well. All these players were ranked as three-star recruits or lower.

Just like Beck and Whittingham, Hill will have an abundance of resources at Michigan he may not have had at his prior stops. His experience with lower-ranked recruits will ultimately help when he gets higher profile players off the bat, completely different from his time at Weber State.

Success checklist

With a healthy mixture of returning and new players, Hill’s job is finding what combination of personnel will allow Michigan to return to form of years past. For the Wolverines to become a top-20 defense or better this year, these things need to happen from him:

• Whip the linebackers into shape: Michigan lost its top four linebackers this offseason — three to graduation and one to the transfer portal. Hill’s job is to point out what’s going to happen in that room and who will emerge as a leader following an offseason of uncertainty.
• Solidify the secondary rotation around Jyaire Hill: The senior cornerback has been the staple of the Michigan secondary for a few years now, so his defensive coordinator needs to solidify the guys around him so not all the pressure relies on him.
• Bring pressure opposite John Henry Daley: After an All-American and All-Big 12 first-team season at Utah last year, Henry Daley will receive plenty of attention from opposing offensive lines. There are plenty of potential breakout candidates, and Hill just needs a few of them to click to help both the run stop and pass rush game to give Michigan a top-20 defense again.

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