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Tight Ends
Special Teams Coordinator
5th Year
Coaching Experience
2005- Utah
2007
Tight Ends
Special Teams Coord.
2005-06
Cornerbacks
Co-Special Teams Coord.
2001-04 - Utah
2004
Administrative Assistant
2003
Graduate Assistant
Defense
2002
Graduate Assistant
Defense
2001
Graduate Assistant
Offense
Bowl Experience
2001 - Las Vegas Bowl
2003 - Liberty Bowl
2004 (2005) - Fiesta Bowl
2005 - Emerald Bowl
2006 - Armed Forces Bowl
2007 - Poinsettia Bowl
2008 (2009) - Sugar Bowl
In four years as a Utah assistant, Jay Hill has coached two Consensus All-Americans, two Mountain West Conference Players of the Year and three first-team all-conference players. He also has a national statistical title on his resume.
Hill, Utah's special teams coordinator since joining the staff in a full-time capacity (co-coordinator in 2005 and 2006), is in his third year doubling as the tight ends coach. His first two years, he managed the cornerbacks.
His awards include being named a finalist for 2008 Special Teams Coordinator of the Year by FootballScoop and a listing in the Rivals.com Class of 2009 Top 25 recruiters.
Consensus All-Americans coached by Hill were defensive back Eric Weddle in 2006 and kicker Louie Sakoda in 2008. Sakoda, the first unanimous Consensus All-American in Utah football history, was also a first-team All-America punter in 2007 (FWAA, CBSSports), and the school's first Lou Groza and Ray Guy finalist in 2008. Weddle and Sakoda combined to win five MWC Player of the Year awards - Weddle winning defensive MVP in 2005 and 2006, and Sakoda earning the league's top special teams honor from 2006-08.
Weddle now plays for the San Diego Chargers, who selected him in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft.
First-team all-MWC players of Hill's include kicker Dan Beardall in 2005, Weddle in 2005 and 2006, and Sakoda as the punter in 2007 and the punter and kicker in 2008. Hill coached the conference's leading punt returner in 2007 - Derrek Richards - a second-team all-league selection.
With Hill's oversight, the 2006 Utes led the nation in net punting, and in 2007 and 2008, they led the conference in kickoff coverage.
Hill's coaching career has been spent entirely at Utah. As a first-year offensive graduate assistant in 2001, he worked with receiver Cliff Russell, who became a third-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins. The next season, he apprenticed with the defensive line. In 2003, he coached the cornerbacks in a graduate assistant role, among them Arnold Parker, who later played in the NFL for Seattle and San Francisco. Hill was a football administrative assistant in 2004.
Recruiting Area
Idaho, Utah, Las Vegas
Playing Career
Hill started for the Utes from 1998-99, after transferring from Ricks College, where he was a 1997 junior college All-American and the team's defensive MVP. His senior year at Utah, he led the MWC in interceptions and was named Utah's Defensive MVP and to the all-MWC second team. The two-time academic all-conference selection won a National Football Foundation Unsung Hero Award in 1999. He later played briefly in the XFL for the Orlando Rage. He signed a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills in 2000.
Education
Utah, 2000
Bachelor's in Spanish
Utah, 2005
Master's in ESS/Sport Psychology
Personal Data
Birthdate: Mar. 16, 1975
Hometown: Lehi, Utah
Family: Married to the former Sara Kern. Daughters, Ashtyn and Alayna; son, Jacob.
