Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Jernaro Gilford, former BYU cornerback, was promoted to defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach.
- Gilford's promotion follows BYU's top-rated Big 12 defense, emphasizing collaborative coaching.
- He is praised for developing talent, including NFL player Michael Davis and standout Jakob Robinson.
PROVO — BYU football's defensive coaching staff saw remarkably little change in the months following the Cougars' 11-2 season capped by a 36-14 win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.
But one change caught absolutely nobody by surprise — except that it means keeping the coach around for (potentially) years to come.
That came about a month ago when cornerback coach Jernaro Gilford was elevated to the role of defensive passing game coordinator by defensive coordinator Jay Hill, a title that is more than a few years in the making.
For Gilford, the promotion isn't just a chance to be more involved in the defensive scheme under Hill — a scheme he already refers to as collaborative — and it's not just about a pay raise.
It's a chance to stick around at his alma mater with a coaching staff he's come to love and respect, from head coach Kalani Sitake on down, while adding to a position group that he's built into one of the Cougars' strengths on defense.
"It's nothing short of amazing, to be honest with you," Gilford told KSL.com of the promotion, "especially when you're surrounded by great guys, great coaches, great fathers and great men. These are guys I can learn from every day, not just on the field but off the field. It's a blessing to be appreciated, and to be surrounded by guys like that."
The former star cornerback for the Cougars from 1999-03 is entering his 10th season on Sitake's staff; and when Hill arrived in Provo nearly three years ago, Gilford was the only defensive position coach that he kept in a staff shakeup that has paid major dividends.
The Cougars boasted the top-rated defense in the Big 12 in 2024, ranking No. 13 nationally in total defense, while allowing 308.8 yards per game. That's the fewest yards allowed per game in Sitake's coaching tenure, and the fewest since the 2012 season for a top-five mark in the last 25 seasons of BYU football.
Clearly, the Cougars are doing something right on defense — from Hill to Gilford to fellow defensive assistants like Kelly Poppinga, Justin Ena and Sione Pouha.
"It's definitely a collective thing, as far as the coaching goes," Gilford said. "I think that's why we are having so much success; we really don't have an ego problem, as far as having other guys at different positions give input.
"At the end of the day, we all want to be good."
The cornerbacks coach will also be the first to tell you the key to his success: great players. Gilford counts former BYU and current NFL cornerback Michael Davis among his pupils, and more recently Eddie Heckard and Jakob Robinson — both of whom ranked in the top-20 nationally in interceptions in 2023.
"Coach G's my guy; he's been my guy since I was in high school," Robinson said. "I trust him more than anyone I know in the football world. I'm so excited for him to have this promotion. He's going to really up the passing defense.
"He taught me so much while I was there. He's a great coach, and a great guy."
Gilford deserves his share of the credit, too. The former teammate of Sitake played in 37 games for the Cougars during his tenure, marked by 10 interceptions and All-Mountain West first-team honors in 2001 while finishing No. 6 nationally with six interceptions.
Gilford, who grew up in Hawthorne, California, is also a BYU guy, Sitake said. The former Southern Utah secondary coach for two years joined Sitake's staff in 2016 and has been a mainstay in the program — and the community — since then.
His coaching career also includes a brief stop as a graduate assistant at Whittier College, where Gilford also earned a masters degree.
His wife, Brittany, owns a local business called Pudding N Pillows that sells banana pudding at home games, as well as a handful of local eateries. His son Jernaro Jr. is also a rising standout defensive back at Skyridge High, where he had 19 tackles in nine games a year ago as a sophomore before earning offers from Utah, UNLV, San Diego State, Hawaii and BYU (that last offer did not come from his dad, but from Hill with Sitake's blessing).
"He's a BYU guy," Sitake said of Gilford. "Give him credit for what he's been doing already with our pass game defense. We're putting him in a role where we know he's been doing a lot of the variety coverages that we do.
"I'm just really happy he's here with us. He's a great developer of skill and character on the field, and I feel really good about what he's done in the cornerback room, overall."
