The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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20 THE WOLVERINE ❱ NOVEMBER 2026 and a foolish penalty late against Iowa. The inability to overcome exhaustion and make one more play on short fields at Minnesota. Nobody would pin those losses on the defense. At the same time, Hill stiff-arms any notion of complacency. That's especially so when he talks about holding many of the same philosophies former U-M DC Jesse Minter employed to put forth a dominant defense in the 2023 national championship season. "When I say that's a defense I've stud- ied a lot, it is," Hill said. "They bring pres- sure patterns that are very similar to what we've shown this year. A lot of the cover- age aspects can be very similar at times. The overall production of that unit is what made them pretty special. Game after game, they played at a high level. "I think we've done something simi- lar to that, to this point. We had a game where you hold Oklahoma to 10 points. [Against UTEP], you give up 150 yards. There have been glimpses of what we're trying to become. We've just got to keep progressing to where we want to be, where we want to end up." Progression represents everything Hill likes to be about. The voice of Michigan football on radio, Doug Karsch, hears that mantra over and over when discussing the Wolverines with the defensive coor- dinator. "He's got such a high standard of what he wants and what he expects," Karsch observed. "It's fun to talk to him every week. Even after dominating perfor- mances, he is pointing out things that bothered him throughout the course of the game. He really seems to do a great job of understanding what he has to work with and getting the most out of that group. "I see an intensity with him that re- minds me of a lot of the great coaches that have been here. I see a guy that loves mak- ing moves on the chess board, as a coach." On the whole, the defense stood strong even when under heavy fire, Karsch said. "Jay Hill has done a great job," he of- fered. "Positions that were question marks going into the season don't look like question marks anymore. It sure would be nice, for Michigan's sake, to see the offense make some strides to help this defense out. "The defense has been great. It looks like it could be one of the top defenses in the country. There will be bigger chal- lenges moving forward, certainly. Neither Iowa nor Minnesota are considered great offenses, and they'll face better offenses down the road. They'll need some help." STEADY RISE THROUGH THE RANKS Hill never failed to help himself, all along the way. While Michigan surged to a national championship in 1997, Hill finished a two-year junior college career at Ricks College [the precursor to Brigham Young University-Idaho] as an All-Amer- ica cornerback. That drew major atten- tion in Salt Lake City, where Whittingham served as Utah's defensive coordinator. "Jay Hill and myself go way back," Whittingham assured. "We recruited him out of junior college to play for us. He was a terrific player, all-conference player. I believe he led the league in intercep- tions his senior year. He jumped right into coaching after his playing career." Hill did, in fact, lead the Mountain West Conference in pickoffs. His 6 intercep- tions in 1999 helped make him second- team All-MWC and Utah's defensive MVP. After brief stints with the NFL and XFL, he returned to Utah and Whitting- ham. "I was the defensive coordinator and he was my [graduate] assistant," Whitting- ham recalled. "As soon as I got the head job, he immedi- ately became full time. One of the first moves I made was to hire Jay full time. He did a terrific job for us. He was our spe- cial teams coordinator and did a great job there. He had a chance to be a head coach and was very successful as a head coach at Weber State." In addition to coordinating special teams, Hill also oversaw Utah's corner- backs (2005-06, 2010-11), running backs (2012) and tight ends (2007-09, 2013). He made the move to the head coaching ranks in 2014, guiding the Wildcats to a 68-39 record over nine seasons. The program earned four Big Sky Conference champi- onships, including 2020, when Hill gar- nered Big Sky Coach of the Year honors. He put six teams into the FCS playoffs, making the semifinals once. When Hill left to take over as defensive coordinator at BYU, he did so as Weber State's all- time winningest coach. Not that Whittingham could forget about him, but Hill made certain. His BYU defenses allowed the Cougars to secure wins in "The Holy War" with Whitting- ham's Utah crews in 2024 (22-21) and 2025 (24-21). Whittingham secured Hill for his first Michigan staff, getting a leader both re- fined and accomplished in his approach to defensive football. He blends aggres- U-M's defense under Hill's tutelage swarmed Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer early and often on Sept. 12 — allowing just 189 passing yards, sacking Mateer 3 times and snagging a pivotal second- half interception. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL