It’s a rare sight in college football: a head coach with a winning record willingly taking what appears to be a demotion. That can be a ‘tough’ pill to swallow. But for Jay Hill, the move was a calculated one with a clear future plan in mind. Now at Michigan, Hill opens up about the difficult transition.

Hill started his coaching career at Utah as a graduate assistant in 2001. What followed was a 12-year tenure during which he took on various coaching roles at the program. Then, in 2014, Hill got the opportunity to explore his coaching abilities as a head coach at Weber State. That would change everything.

He won four Big Sky Conference championships and held a 68-39 overall record, dominating FCS during his nine-season tenure. Those accolades got BYU’s attention. However, there was a catch. BYU offered him the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach positions over the head coach position. Stuck between a difficult choice, Hill decided to take on the defensive coordinator role.

Speaking on the In The Trenches podcast, Hill revealed how it felt initially when he joined the Cougars.

“That’s very tough,” Hill said. “Especially, I was a head coach for nine years, and you get into your own system of, this is how I want it to look, this is how I want to have it happen. And, if it’s not going that way, you just tweak and change it how you want. But when you’re not the head coach, it’s not always that easy to make those tweaks and changes.”

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But despite the “demotion,” Hill also revealed that the role gave him new perspectives on how football coaching positions work. His leadership produced immediate results at BYU, where he guided the Cougars to consecutive winning seasons and built a defense that ranked 19th nationally in scoring last season, allowing just 19.1 points per game.

The Cougars tried to get him to stay, but when a program of Michigan’s caliber comes calling, it becomes quite difficult to say no. Hill explained that he had a major reason for joining the program: to reunite with his former mentor.

“The decision to come to Michigan was not hard at all,” Hill said on the podcast. “Coach Whitt called me and said, ‘Hey, I think I have this opportunity. What do you think?’ I said, ‘Coach, I’m in, because it’s Michigan.’ I believe we can win national championships here. I believe we can win consistent Big Ten championships here. With the way Coach Whitt coaches, his discipline and toughness, I just think it’s a perfect match for Michigan. I was in.”

Hill’s connection to Whittingham dates back to the former’s playing days at Utah in 1998, where Whittingham was the defensive coordinator. Additionally, Whittingham also mentored him during Hill’s time at Utah from 2005 to 2013.

There have been instances of head coaches accepting demotions at bigger programs. Most come after firings. A few, like Chip Kelly’s move to Ohio State from UCLA, can appear strange at first, but in hindsight, the person tends to go for a better situation.

Hill also shared that he respects Whittingham more than any coach, praising him for his discipline and intelligence. So, the move to Michigan feels more inevitable than shocking. While he has set his focus on winning the Big Ten title and the national championship, the prospect of being a head coach again has not left Hill’s mind.

Jay Hill reveals plans after stint with Kyle Whittingham’s Michigan

Jay Hill mentioned that not being able to make his own system and play bothered him at BYU. However, the Big 12 offer was too big for him to ignore. And now he finds himself at Ann Arbor under Kyle Whittingham. While he is excited about his journey with the Wolverines, Hill did hint at a possible return to the head coach role.

“Well, I don’t know. I would love to be a head coach again, but I think right now in coaching, you better be where your feet are and you better be planted,” Hill said. “So, right now it’s all coordinating at Michigan and just making this a championship contender every year and doing the best job I can for Coach Whittingham, because obviously that’s my role right now. But, yeah, I miss some things about being a head coach. Would love to have that opportunity again someday.”

If Hill can transition the Wolverines into an elite defense, there’s no doubt that his coaching stock will go up.