The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542609
FEBRUARY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 11 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Jay Hill Is A Difference Maker By Chris Balas Coaches' ceilings are often dependent on their assistant pool, as we've seen with guys like Brady Hoke, Sherrone Moore, etc., over the years. Even the best of the best, including bas- ketball coach John Beilein and football's Jim Harbaugh, had to experiment before they got the exact right mix that led them to the top of their professions. Kyle Whittingham's staff, though, is pretty much proven, from the top down. He stressed the importance of having guys he knew and trusted in his initial group, and we can say there are no weak links. We almost went with strength coach Doug Elisaia here given the importance of this posi- tion, working with the players on a daily basis and his experience. You've got a linebacker coach with NFL experience, a running backs coach in Tony Alford who is fantastic, an elite OC in Jason Beck … And yet we'll go with BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, a former Whittingham assistant at Utah. Hill's 2025 defense dominated in a 12-2 year for BYU, surrendering only 19.1 points per game (No. 19 in FBS) and 332.4 total yards. They notched 31 takeaways in 2024 and 24 last season. Hill is a "coverage disguiser" like Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter, two elite DCs at Michigan, and extremely well respected. Michigan enjoyed an incredible three-year stretch from 2021-23 by winning with defense first. We expect to see that again soon in Ann Ar- bor, and are high on literally every assistant coach Whittingham brought over on that side of the ball. Jason Beck Is Tops By Clayton Sayfie Kyle Whittingham's staff is top tier, from retaining Tony Alford (running backs), Lou Esposito (defensive line) and Kerry Coombs (special teams), to poaching BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, whose Cougars ranked top-20 in scoring defense each of the last two seasons, and beyond. But the Jason Beck hire is the one I'm most excited about, for a couple reasons. One, the 45-year-old Beck is a rising star, having been an offensive coordinator at Syr- acuse, New Mexico and Utah the last three years, with a group that ranked fourth in the country in total offense in 2025. Second, he's a quarterbacks coach who can help develop sophomore Bryce Underwood, who showed flashes but was too sloppy with his fundamentals, according to analysts, this past season. It's a quarterback-friendly offense (including designed runs!) that allowed Devon Dampier — Beck's quarterback at New Mexico in 2024 and Utah in 2025 — to finish No. 26 in the country in total offense at 277.1 yards per game. But he's not just a quarterback guru — the Utes were built on physicality under his leadership, which is a staple of a Whittingham- coached team. Utah, which had an offensive line that was a semifi- nalist for the Joe Moore Award, ranked second in the FBS with 266.3 rushing yards per game and led the nation at 6 yards per carry. This was a home-run hire for Whittingham a year ago, when he brought Beck from New Mexico to Utah, and another this offseason as the two pair up again in Ann Arbor. ❱ POINT ❙ COUNTERPOINT ❰ WHO IS COACH KYLE WHITTINGHAM'S BIGGEST ASSISTANT COACHING HIRE? BECK HILL Head Coach Age^ Years At U-M Wins Losses Ties Win Pct. Previous College HC Stops Kyle Whittingham 66 2026-Present 177 88 0 66.79% Utah Sherrone Moore 37 2024-25 0 0 0 — — Jim Harbaugh* 51 2015-23 58 27 0 68.24% San Diego, Stanford Brady Hoke 52 2011-14 47 50 0 48.45% Ball State, San Diego State Rich Rodriguez 45 2008-10 64 34 0 65.31% West Virginia Lloyd Carr 50 1995-2007 0 0 0 — — Gary Moeller 49 1990-94 6 24 3 22.73% Illinois Bo Schembechler 40 1969-89 40 17 3 69.17% Miami (Ohio) Bump Elliott 34 1959-68 0 0 0 — — Bennie Oosterbaan 42 1948-58 0 0 0 — — Fritz Crisler 39 1938-47 45 19 6 68.57% Princeton Harry Kipke 30 1929-37 3 4 1 43.75% Michigan State Tad Wieman 31 1927-28 0 0 0 — — Fielding H. Yost 54 1925-26 151 27 10 82.98% Ohio Wesleyan, Nebraska, Kansas, Stanford, San Jose Normal, Michigan George Little 35 1924 37 11 2 76.00% Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio) Fielding H. Yost 30 1901-23 35 9 3 77.66% Ohio Wesleyan, Nebraska, Kansas, Stanford, San Jose Normal Langdon Lea 25 1900 0 0 0 — — Gustave Ferbert 24 1897-99 0 4 1 10.00% Indiana William Ward 22 1896 0 0 0 — — William McCauley 22 1894-95 0 0 0 — — Frank Barbour 22 1892-93 0 0 0 — Frank Crawford (co-HC) 21 1891 0 0 0 — — Mike Murphy (co-HC) 31 1891 0 0 0 — — *Jim Harbaugh recorded a 49-22-1 record, including playoffs, in four seasons with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers ^Age is at the time of the coach's first game at Michigan