UPDATE: BYU hires Weber State head coach Jay Hill as defensive coordinator, associate head coach
Weber State head coach Jay Hill guides his team during a game against Portland State on Oct. 8, 2016, at WSU’s Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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Weber State head coach Jay Hill guides his team during a game against Portland State on Oct. 8, 2016, at WSU’s Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State head coach Jay Hill talks with Keilan Benjamin (10) during the opening day of Weber State’s 2017 fall camp Aug. 1 at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State head coach Jay Hill hoists the Big Sky championship trophy after his team defeated Idaho State 35-7 on Nov. 18, 2017, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State head football coach Jay Hill guides his team in a drill during their first spring practice on March, 14, 2018, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
Jay Hill has been linked with college football jobs at the FBS level for years, and this year’s coaching cycle finally presented Hill with an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
The tenure of the most successful coach in Weber State football history is over as Hill, the nine-year head coach who took the Wildcats to their highest heights, is headed to BYU to become associate head coach and defensive coordinator for the Cougars.
After reports surfaced that the move was official Tuesday night, Hill informed his staff and players Wednesday morning and BYU announced the hire.
Hill, a former University of Utah defensive back, heads to BYU as the program enters the Big 12 Conference. He replaces Ilaisa Tuiaki as the team’s defensive coordinator and Ed Lamb as the associate head coach.
Tuiaki resigned last month and Lamb was announced as Northern Colorado’s new head coach Tuesday.
Hill and BYU head coach Kalani Sitake spoke with reporters later Wednesday morning via video call and both leaned heavily on their friendship as a catalyst for the reunion, having both coached together at the University of Utah.
“I’ve been really impressed with what he’s done, I’ve seen it first-hand,” Sitake told reporters. “The knowledge he has in all three phases, he is a special teams guru in addition to what he does with defense … we are really fired up to work together again.”
Hill said his relationship with Sitake was a “humongous part” of his decision to leave Weber State for BYU. He hinted that the Cougars’ entry into the Big 12 was an exciting motivator as well, having grown up a BYU fan in Lehi going to football and basketball games, and said he looked forward to reuniting with assistants like Fesi Sitake and Steve Clark, who coached under him at Weber.
“I also felt like we had accomplished so much at Weber State for nine years, my wife and I and kids had put our blood, sweat and tears into that program, and built it into something I felt was self-sustainable now. I believe that program will continue to get better,” Hill said. “It was the next venture in life that I really felt like we needed to take. This change is exciting for me.”
Mickey Mental, who was hired as Weber State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach early in 2022, will serve as interim head coach at WSU.
“What our football program has accomplished in Coach Hill’s tenure is unprecedented,” WSU athletic director Tim Crompton said in a statement sent to the Standard-Examiner. “We are sad to see Jay leave, however, we wish him and his wonderful family nothing but the best in his new position. We will begin a national search immediately.”
Sitake spoke about how difficult he knew it was for Hill to leave Weber State.
“I know a lot players love him and admire the mentor he’s been for them,” Sitake said. “Same for that staff, I know it was really difficult for him. I hope he knows how much we appreciate him making that decision to come here and join us, and we’ll make sure he doesn’t regret it.”
“Those were players that I loved,” Hill added. “Those are assistant coaches who gave their lives to us. So to make that change was difficult.”
Nobody in Weber State’s 60-year history as a Division I program has coached for more seasons or as many games as Hill did. He totaled an overall record of 68-39 in his nine seasons, including a 50-19 record in Big Sky Conference regular-season games and made WSU into a perennial top-10 program.
Only Sark Arslanian’s 50-26-2 overall record over eight seasons tops Hill’s winning percentage, and nobody in a group of 10 head coaches comes close to Hill’s .725 conference winning percentage.
Hill also spoke to the WSU fans and community in a video posted by the school to social media, thanking them for an “unbelievable nine years.”
“To watch the program continue to grow and elevate and win championships has been beyond even our expectations,” he said. “We have had support from all aspects of the community, the university, our players, our coaches. We just wanted to say one last humongous thanks. We will always be Wildcats and look forward to seeing Weber State always be great, great, great.”
After 13 years coaching at the University of Utah, including 10 as a full-time assistant, Hill took over a Weber State program in 2014 that had gone 4-19 in the previous two seasons, reeling after John L. Smith took the job in 2012 to replace Ron McBride only to leave after spring camp to become interim head coach at Arkansas.
After a 2-10 mark in 2014, Hill, a native of Lehi, declined an opportunity to return to Utah as its defensive coordinator. The Wildcats then posted a winning record every season from 2015-22 with Hill totaling a 66-29 mark in those eight seasons.
For the first time since 2009, WSU qualified for the playoffs in 2016 and won a postseason game in 2017.
The Wildcats won four consecutive Big Sky championships with Hill at the helm (2017-19, spring 2021). In 2019, Hill coached the Wildcats to the playoff semifinals for the first time in program history.
Under Hill, Weber State totaled six of the program’s eight all-time playoff wins, four of the school’s six 10-win seasons and one of the program’s two wins over FBS opponents — tallying one of each in 2022, his final season.
Sitake said Wednesday that he did not speak with Hill about the opportunity of joining BYU’s staff until after Weber State lost its second-round playoff game to Montana State on Saturday, finding it inappropriate to their friendship to do so while WSU was still playing.
Hill said it came together quickly and that BYU was “completely professional” about the process.
Hill called plays as WSU’s defensive coordinator in six of his nine seasons, building Weber State as one of the best defenses each year at the FCS level. He’s likely to take his 4-3 defensive scheme with man coverage in the secondary to Provo, a defensive style not often seen at BYU over the years but seemingly more consistent with the background Hill and Sitake share from their time coaching at Utah under Kyle Whittingham.
The exact terms of Hill’s agreement with BYU, a private institution, are unlikely to be known but Jay Drew of the Deseret News reports that Hill will make “roughly” $1 million per year. Hill’s guaranteed base salary ($191,475) and bonus ($175,000) at WSU combined to $366,475 yearly starting with an updated contract in 2021.
Hill’s current contract, which was to last through the 2025 season, stipulates a buyout of $100,000 paid to WSU for his voluntary departure. The contract also says he must return his most recent $175,000 annual bonus for leaving prior to July 1.
With Lamb taking over at Northern Colorado, Hill’s departure would mark the fourth Big Sky school to change head coaches this offseason, but the first with a recent winning pedigree.
Arizona State hired Cal Poly’s Beau Baldwin to be its offensive coordinator. In his place, Cal Poly has promoted assistant coach and former Washington State head man Paul Wulff.
Idaho State is also seeking a new head coach after Charlie Ragle left following his one season in the post. He, too, was hired by Arizona State; Ragle will coach linebackers for the Sun Devils.
On the BYU side, Sitake said Hill would help with technique and fundamentals for BYU’s New Mexico Bowl matchup with SMU in 10 days, but Hill would not be counted on for game prep otherwise.
Hill said he and Sitake have decided to retain cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford, joining Kelly Poppinga on Hill’s defensive staff as Poppinga was also announced as a new hire Wednesday morning. Poppinga, a BYU alum and former coach, rejoins the staff after stints at Virginia and Boise State.
The remainder of BYU’s defensive staff is to be determined, which could potentially put other WSU assistants on the radar.