Bert Hill first worked with June Jones when they were assistant coaches for the Detroit Lions (photo by SMU athletics).

There’s a reason “jet” is such a popular word around the SMU locker room.

Think for a minute about the word, and the images it evokes: fast … powerful … unstoppable.

Not coincidentally, it’s the word new defensive line coach Bert Hill uses as much as any other when talking to his new charges at SMU. “Jet” is more than a mode of transportation or a mediocre football team. It’s also the new mantra of the SMU defensive line.

“It’s my philosophy, but it’s really the philosophy of our whole defense,” Hill said. “The defense (defensive coordinator) Tom Mason is putting together is going to play that way. Everybody is going to play fast. I don’t know where the name came from — I guess jets were around before lasers, but were really fast … something like that.”

Hill said of joining the SMU staff: "I knew we’re going to win — there’s no doubt about that" (photo by Webmaster).

Hill is another assistant on new head coach June Jones’ staff whose résumé screams its credentials. He spent the last two years as a strength and conditioning coach with the Miami Dolphins. He first got into the NFL in 1990, when he was hired by the Detroit Lions, for whom he served for 11 years — the first eight as strength and conditioning coach and assistant defensive line coach and the last three coaching strength and conditioning and working as an assistant offensive line coach. He also has worked in major college programs, with two stints at Texas A&M sandwiched around a year at Ohio State and a year at Auburn, and has co-authored several strength and conditioning books.

“I started coaching in junior high, coaching defense,” Hill said. “But I knew I wanted to coach at a major college, and the weight room was a way to get there. Then the Detroit Lions hired me, and I knew I’d taken the right route to get there.”

It was during his tenure with the Lions that he met June Jones, who also was on the staff, forging a relationship that eventually reunited the two on the Hilltop.

“We overlapped a couple of years in Detroit,” Hill said, “and we talked about working together again somewhere down the road. He offered me a job when he went to Hawaii, but the timing wasn’t right.

“I’ve had some other opportunities since then, but it’s all about who you work for and who you work with. That’s the biggest thing to me, and when June offered me this chance to come with him to SMU, I couldn’t turn it down.”

Hill said Jones was the reason he wanted to join the Mustangs’ staff, but in Jones, there were three smaller reasons.

“First of all, I knew we’re going to win — there’s no doubt about that,” Hill said. “Secondly, there’s June’s approach to the game. Third, the great thing about June is that you know he has your best interest at heart — always. You don’t ever have to question that.”

Hill used his expertise in strength and conditioning to land a coaching job with the Detroit Lions (photo by Webmaster).

Hill said he was pleasantly surprised by the ability of the defensive linemen with whom he worked this spring. He acknowledged that the starting foursome “probably” will be Anthony Sowe at left defensive end, Serge Elizee and Patrick Handy inside at defensive tackle and Youri Yenga at right defensive end, but he also said his line is going to have to have quality depth in order to be effective.

“I didn’t work with these guys last year, so I don’t really know how much each guy has improved since last season, but I was impressed with what they did this spring,” Hill said. “The best thing about this group is they all bought into what we’re selling. They all understand that if they give us the effort we ask for and believe in what we’re doing, they’re going to be successful.”

Hill said he has no set rules about how seniority equates to playing time.

“The best players will play,” he said, “It doesn’t matter if they’re seniors or freshmen. We’d like the older guys to step forward and show the younger guys, but all the guys will respond, and it’s how the respond that matters. They need to get everything down to the point where they just see something and just react.

“When that happens, they’ll start to ‘jet.’ That’s when they’ll make a lot of big plays.”