Literally less than twenty-four hours after finding out that Kentucky Football Head Coach Mark Stoops had been fired, Kentucky already has their guy. Barring any last minute collapse (kind of like Texas A&M a couple years ago) this is all but a done deal.

For those that don’t know, Will Stein is a Louisville, Kentucky native who led Trinity to three state titles in football. Stein then went on to play for the University of Louisville (gross, I know) from 2008-12, however, the Stein family have deep roots connected to the University of Kentucky. Stein’s father, Matt, played under the former Kentucky Head Football Coach Jerry Claiborne.

Stein had this to say about Kentucky in a pre-season interview in 2024:

“I grew up a die-hard Cats fan, actually. My dad played there, so I went to every single game at Commonwealth Stadium. I grew up in SEC Football.”

Stein has been the Offensive Coordinator at Oregon since 2023 under current Head Coach, Dan Lanning. Before that, Stein was at UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio) from 2020-2022 serving as everything from a Wide Receivers Coach, the Quarterbacks Coach, and eventually the Co-Offensive Coordinator.

Stein is one of the best up-and-coming offensive-minded coordinators in the country and I think even the folks across the country at Oregon knew it was only a matter of time before he got his first chance at being a head coach.

The other candidate mentioned in the conversation was Brian Hartline, the current Offensive Coordinator at Ohio State, however, I think this is a great hire and Big Blue Nation should be ecstatic for a new era of football under Will Stein.

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