It’s a matter of skill. It’s a matter of time.
You know it. He knows it. Kalani Sitake knows it. Everyone should know it.
That’s all it is before Jay Hill, BYU’s distinguished defensive coordinator, is taken away to that place where so many accomplished coordinators go — a head coach’s office somewhere. And that somewhere won’t be just anywhere. That’s not the way Hill rolls. He’s more deliberate. He’s seeking more. He deserves more. He’ll get more.
“Do I want to be offered jobs?” he once told me. “Yes, I’m an arrogant, confident guy. I wanted to be a head coach before and I want to do it again. I’ve turned down crazy jobs in the past. …”
In that same moment, he hesitated, reiterating another point, too.
“… I love where I am now. My situation here is unbelievable.”
Which is to say, he is given ample license and space to coordinate BYU’s defense as he sees fit, to paint his Monets, to work his wonders, and he’s paid well to do that. But …
Hill’s sights are set high. As he said, he wants to be a head coach again. That’s the point. Just as he was a fistful of years ago at Weber State, where he led the Wildcats to national prominence, to multiple FCS playoffs. He never won the championship, one of the few things along his coaching path Hill has left undone. But he succeeded enough to have established himself as a strong lead dog, a program CEO who can coach in the most specific ways, namely with attention to detail, which is frequently required these days. But more importantly, he also can see things with a keen comprehensive, high-altitude view.
Mostly though, it’s been at BYU, where he came to guide his slice of the team three seasons ago, that Hill has separated himself from other head coaching candidates. It helps that he’s already filled that role in Ogden. But who among those who study BYU’s rise through the Big 12 — the Cougars were 18-2 over their last 20 games heading into this weekend — hasn’t noticed the remarkable effect Hill has had, as it turns out, not just on his own slice, but across the board?
Nobody.
That’s why when the right opportunity comes at the right place for you-know-what, Hill will jump. He can afford, though, to be selective. And meanwhile, as he insisted, he’s loving his stint with the Cougars. Why wouldn’t he?
It might be arguable, agree or disagree, but it can be said without the roll of an eye that Hill currently, at the peak of his powers, is the best football coach going in the state of Utah. And that’s a fairly fast crowd.
Hill is regarded as one of the most significant parts in an engine that is revving at new speeds and soaring to new heights. Plainly put, he has transformed BYU’s resistance, taking it from what it once was — not good — to what it has now become, a unit that is seen as the strength of the team. In Provo? At offensive-minded BYU? Who’d a thunk it?
His defense was one of the best in the league a season ago, sitting atop the Big 12 in total defense, scoring defense, and forced turnovers. It led the Big 12 in allowing the fewest passing touchdowns, it limited opposing quarterbacks to the third-lowest pass efficiency rating in the country, and it led the nation in interceptions per game. It ranked 13th nationally in total defense.
This season, it’s been more defensive prominence, not perfect, but proper enough.
What’s the magic in Hill’s mojo? There is none. Just foundational-though-inspired stuff that enables the positive effect he has, insisting on technical prowess and old-fashioned toughness.
One of Hill’s former assistants at Weber State — Brent Myers — once put it like this: “Jay is super-bright, super-detailed, super-organized. Everything we do, we do with a purpose. Plus, he’s got a relationship with every kid, He’s got a passion for the game and for the players. He loves the players and they love him.”
That about covers it.
Another quality Hill possesses is cool under fire. When the action heats up, even with his ample dashes of intensity, he said he’s able to focus on whatever adjustments are necessary outside of his meticulous pregame planning.
That’s particularly valuable for a coach who famously had a heart attack last season — and came through it, under the watchful eyes of his wife, Sara, without skipping a beat. OK, begging for forgiveness for that awful way of saying it. Hill, who claimed he doesn’t suffer and never has suffered from the adverse effects of major nervousness or worry or fretting, articulated it better, more succinctly.
“Looking back, I don’t want to underplay it or overplay it,” he said. “But I don’t internalize pressure. It’s a weird deal.”
The man just uses his personal approach and his big brain to figure out schemes and put them into plans and then replace pieces of those plans with necessary adjustments, happy to be doing what he does.
‘’I’m grateful for life,” he said. “But I’m grateful for football, too.”
Words to live and coach by.
In the rivalry game against Utah, Hill said he wanted to stop the run — the Utes did manage to pile up a decent amount of yardage, but not enough to win — and to put the Ute offense in long distance situations. Utah was 5-for-12 on third-down conversions, but only 1-for-5 on fourth-down tries. That last stat was huge enough for folks to question the judgment of Kyle Whittingham, one of Hill’s coaching mentors, on the calls.
Hill, in fact, said the cerebral parts of football came to him in stops along the way, starting with his playing and coaching days at Utah, where he learned from Ron McBride, Urban Meyer, Whittingham, Dennis Erickson, among others, taking some of their philosophies and laying his own over them.
His players said they are amazed by Hill’s ability to recognize what offenses do, what they’re trying to do, before they do it. Hill knows he’s smart — “I get it right way more than I get it wrong,” he said — but he’s also humble about the application of that acumen: “Even if I make a stupid call, the players believe it’s the right thing. There’s so much power in that.”
Ultimately, he’s fully aware that the players are the ones who win games: “We build our success on the talents of our players,” he said.
Still, someone has to reel in and organize and motivate that talent.
Was it mentioned that Hill is a gifted recruiter? If not, he is. That gets back to the ability to recognize what a raw player can one day do and be, and having the connective touch to lure him in. NIL money helps.
All of which makes Hill what he is as a coordinator at BYU and what he will be, sooner or later, as a head coach who knows where.
It’s a matter of skill. It’s a matter of time.
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