BYU’s longest-tenured assistant coach is headed to Michigan.
Cougars cornerbacks coach and defensive passing game coordinator Jernaro Gilford is leaving to join Kyle Whittingham’s Wolverines staff, Michigan announced Saturday.
The news was first reported by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
At Michigan, Gilford will be reunited with former BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who was hired in the same role earlier this week by the Wolverines.
Gilford, a BYU defensive back himself from 1999-2003, had been the cornerbacks coach in Provo since the start of the Kalani Sitake era in 2016. At the time of his exit, Gilford was the last remaining assistant from Sitake’s inaugural coaching staff.
Under Gilford’s watch, BYU fielded some of the top secondaries in school history, highlighted by standout cornerbacks Jakob Robinson, Eddie Heckard, Evan Johnson and others in the past few years.
The Cougars have recorded 39 interceptions over the past two seasons, also finishing third nationally in allowed passer rating (105.91) in 2024.
Aside from Hill, Gilford is the only other BYU coach to have followed Whittingham to Michigan thus far, with the former Utah head man bringing a number of Utes assistants with him to Ann Arbor.