Kalani Sitake didn’t have to look far for his Jay Hill replacement.
BYU’s head coach elevated special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga to be his new defensive play caller. He also named defensive tackles coach Sione Po’uha as his associate head coach.
Poppinga came to Provo with Hill three years ago after a stint at Boise State. Before Boise, Poppinga had coordinator experience at Virginia under Bronco Mendenhall. He comes from the Mendenhall coaching tree, playing for him as a standout linebacker and then coaching for him at both BYU and Virginia.
Under Hill, Poppinga learned the Kyle Whittingham-style defense that made BYU the winningest Big 12 program in the last two years.
“We have a lot of quality coaches in our program, and I’m proud of their collaborative efforts over the past few years and the momentum we have been building as a staff,” Sitake said in a statement.
Poppinga fills the void left by Hill after BYU’s former defensive coordinator and associate head coach followed Whittingham to Michigan.
BYU limited the damage from Hill’s exit. The coordinator only lured one key coach, Jernaro Gilford, to Ann Arbor and no key players.
Starters Faletau Satuala, Isaiah Glasker and Tre Alexander all re-signed with BYU after Hill left.
As for Po’uha, he was a former Utah and New York Jets player. Most of his coaching experience came under Whittingham at Utah, aside from a brief stint at Navy.