College Football Playoff Coach Predicted to Turn Around Major College Football Program

A coach hired away from a 2025-2026 College Football Playoff participant has been predicted to turn around a Power Four program in his first year as head coach.

Kentucky moved on from Mark Stoops after 13 seasons and hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein to fill its vacancy. The Kentucky native previously played for Louisville. | Ben Lonergan / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the busiest college football coaching carousels in recent memory wrapped up its cycle in December of 2025. In the Power Four ranks, more than 15 different positions came open between September and December.

The turnover in the SEC featured six different job openings, five of which were the result of a termination. The last SEC program to part ways with its head coach was Kentucky, which terminated Mark Stoops on Nov. 30 and hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein roughly 24 hours later.

Stein is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and played quarterback for the Cardinals from 2008 to 2012. His first two jobs in coaching were as a graduate assistant and quality control assistant for the Cardinals in 2013 and 2014.

Stein joined former Louisville head coach Charlie Strong at Texas as a quality control assistant in 2015. He served in the role for three seasons before moving down to the high school ranks in Texas.

Jeff Traylor hired Stein to his inaugural staff at UTSA in 2020. For three seasons, Stein held the roles of pass game coordinator, wide receivers coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Roadrunners.

Dan Lanning named Stein his offensive coordinator at Oregon in the 2023 offseason. In three seasons, Stein worked with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore at quarterback. The Ducks were 38-5 in those seasons, winning one Big Ten championship and making two appearances in the College Football Playoff.

Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein leads a drill with quarterback Dante Moore at Autzen Stadium in Eugene Dec. 14, 2025 before the first-round CFP game against James Madison. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Stein's track record with quarterbacks is exciting to a Kentucky fan base that seldom saw exciting quarterback play in Stoops' 13-year tenure. John Talty of CBS Sports released the marks programs with a first-year head coach would consider successful in 2026. Talty's mark for Stein at Kentucky is seven wins.

"While still trying to balance his offensive coordinator duties at Oregon, Stein put together one of the best transfer classes in the country," Talty wrote. "Headlined by Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey and Texas running back CJ Baxter, the Wildcats signed the No. 11 class in the country."

In the grand scheme of the SEC, Kentucky is historically one of the more challenging jobs. Quite a few coaches have won seven games in their first season at Kentucky, but it has not been accomplished since 1954 under Blanton Collier. On the note of Collier, he is the last head coach to have finished his Kentucky tenure with a winning record.

When Kentucky parted ways with Stoops, he had become the winningest head coach in school history. However, his tenure was bookended by a trio of losing seasons from 2013 to 2015 and a pair of losing seasons in 2024 and 2025, putting his overall record at 72-80.

New Kentucky Wildcat head coach Will Stein makes remarks as he is introduced at Kentucky on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 | Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images