Kyle Whittingham is doing his best to make sure Utah knows he isn’t thrilled with how his departure went down. That’s the only way to interpret what he’s doing as the new head coach at Michigan as he raids his former staff to fill out his new staff in Ann Arbor. The big get came earlier in the day on Thursday when Whittingham landed Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck to run his offense for the Wolverines.
But, Whittingham wasn’t done there. Michigan is reportedly also hiring top offensive line coach Jim Harding to Kyle Whittingham’s staff. Harding has coached Utah’s offensive line for the past 11 seasons and mentored 20 first and second-team all-league players. He will also be the assistant head coach for the Wolverines
Elsewhere, Michigan is also expected to hire Utah wide receivers coach Micah Simon, who was a wide receiver at BYU, and prior to Utah was the wide receivers coach at New Mexico. Meantime, Utah tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham is set to be hired as part of the staff at Michigan as well. And then Michigan is also hiring Utah quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. for the same position. Detmer worked with Jason Beck at Syracuse, New Mexico and Utah.
Jay Hill Officially Joins BYU
But Whittingham didn’t just raid his own former staff, he also took arguably the top assistant from his former rival. BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill has officially accepted the same role with Michigan.
Hill’s got a long history with Whittingham. He spent over a decade on staff at Utah, first under Urban Meyer and then with Whittingham from 2001 to 2013. That’s where he cut his teeth, built a reputation, and became one of the better defensive minds in the region. When he left to take the head job at Weber State, he turned that place into a winner. Nine seasons, 68 wins, and a pile of Big Sky titles later, he bounced back to the FBS level at BYU and made an immediate impact.
And man, what a difference he made in Provo. BYU’s defense under Hill wasn’t just good; it was nasty. The Cougars gave up just 19 points per game and ranked in the top four in the Big 12 in scoring defense, total defense, and rushing defense.
