Will Stein and Kentucky Football working on deal to make him next head coach

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Will Stein and Kentucky Football working on deal to make him next head coach

Kentucky football is zeroing in on its next head coach after parting ways with Mark Stoops.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Kentucky is working on a deal with Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein to make him the next head coach of the Wildcats.

“Oregon OC Will Stein is the target to be the next coach at Kentucky, and the sides are working toward a deal,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “He’s a Kentucky native who has emerged as one of the country’s top offensive coordinators and play callers.”

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz also reports that Stein is the leading candidate to become the next Kentucky football head coach.

Finally, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports and On3 also reports that Kentucky is working toward a deal to make Stein the school’s next coach.

The 36-year-old Stein is widely regarded as one of the best offensive minds in college football. He’s been running the Oregon offense since the 2023 season, a year when his unit was arguably the best in all of college football. He was even a semifinalist for the 2023 Broyles Award, which is annually given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Stein also has deep family ties to the state of Kentucky. His father played football for UK under Jerry Claiborne in the 80s, and his mother attended UK as well.

A native of Louisville (KY), Stein became a backup quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals for his collegiate career before becoming a grad assistant for the Cards to kick off his coaching career.

Despite the Louisville ties, Stein was a die-hard Kentucky fan growing up and hoped to play for the Wildcats before opting to walk on at Louisville. Stein has remained a UK fan since then, and it’s been repeatedly said across the national landscape that he “loves” the school.

Kentucky just let its all-time winning head coach leave town, but there’s no question it’s in infinitely better shape than when Mark Stoops arrived in 2013 to rebuild a program that many thought was beyond saving. The hope is that Stoops laid the kind of foundation over his 13 seasons in Lexington that will allow Stein to take this program to new heights.

Here’s to the dawn of a new era of Kentucky football, one that builds off the success Stoops was able to achieve.

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