Birmingham University head coach Wayne Hill

Wayne Hill is the head coach at the University of Birmingham. The Lions have reached the playoffs each of the 14 years that Hill has been involved with the program.

In 2005, Hill led the Lions to a College Bowl XIX title, completing a 12-0 season. In 2006, the Lions became the first team to complete three straight undefeated (8-0) regular seasons. As a defensive coordinator, the Birmingham Lions won the National Championship in 2009 and 2010 and in 2011 Hill returned as head coach.

He came through the ranks as a player at the Birmingham Bulls before embarking on a coaching career.

What does it mean to you to represent your country as a member of the World Team staff?

It's a great honor to represent the UK in a prestigious event like the World Bowl. From our point of view it's a great opportunity to learn as much as I can and take it back to the UK to make everyone better.

Why did you get into coaching?

I started playing football when I was 12. I was injured when I was 20 and had to stop playing so then I got involved in coaching with my local team and then moved on to my university and I've been there 14 years.

Who is your favorite coach?

My junior coaches were a great influence. A guy named Dave Chambers was a great coach for me. A lot of what he installed in me at a young age has impacted my coaching ability. From there I've tried to learn from as many coaches as possible. We need to deliver the best service we can to our players and to do that you have to learn from others and pass that on. We've got some good contacts with Pete Carroll in Seattle, Mike Leach at Washington State and Jeff Reinebold at SMU have been friends to our program in the UK.

Why did you start playing football?

I was 12 years old and my dad was watching football in the UK. It wasn't on TV much but he watched it and he got me into watching it. At 12 I was playing football (soccer) and cricket and rugby at school but I wanted to try something new and different. It took about six months to find a team but from there I started playing junior football and went from there.

What do you hope to take from this event to help improve football in your country?

From my point of view, we're restructuring the whole national team program in Great Britain at the moment. So it's how that structure can fit into the IFAF World team structure so we can start recommending players to come over and represent at the Development team level and the World Team level.