College Football HQ

Top offensive coordinator reportedly hired for major college head coaching job

Joe Cox|
A top collegiate offensive coordinator is reportedly getting his first head coaching job.
A top collegiate offensive coordinator is reportedly getting his first head coaching job. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

In this story:

Kentucky Wildcats

With the winding paths of college football's hiring season, sometimes the path leads to home. A day after Kentucky parted with 13-year head coach Mark Stoops, reports are circulating that the Wildcats have settled on his successor. Kentucky native (and former Louisville quarterback) Will Stein is purportedly preparing to make his head coaching debut for his home-state Wildcats.

Stein's story

Stein, who grew up in Louisville, is the son of a former Kentucky football player of the 1980s and spent his childhood as a massive fan of the Wildcats. He starred at Trinity High in Louisville and ended up walking on for Louisville at quarterback.

As a coach, Stein climbed the ranks on the offensive side of the ball, coaching at Louisville, Texas, and at a Texas high school before climbing to the collegiate coordinator ranks as the offensive boss at Texas-San Antonio. The Roadrunners scored 36.8 points per game in Stein's season as co-offensive coordinator.

Stein was then plucked away by Dan Lanning at Oregon, where he has been the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for three seasons. The Ducks have scored 44.2, 34.9 and 38.2 points per game respectively in his three seasons at Oregon. Oregon is currently ninth nationally in scoring offense and 13th in offensive yardage (465.2 yards per game).

Stein's offenses have been explosive, with Oregon's 82 plays of 20+ yards on the season ranking second in all of college football.

Other Kentucky candidates

In choosing Stein, Kentucky missed out on Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, among others. Hartline's brother, Mike, was a quarterback at Kentucky, and the highly-regarded OSU assistant was considered a top candidate for the Kentucky job, but may be biding his time until Ryan Day's time in Columbus is over.

Among the other mentioned Kentucky candidates were Dan Mullen and Chip Kelly, although the latter might have been a misunderstanding of a fan comment regard interim Miami Dolphins general manager Champ Kelly, who played at Kentucky, potentially taking a general manager role in the Kentucky program.

Stein's youth

At just 36 years old, Stein is the youngest Kentucky coach hired since Paul "Bear" Bryant, who was 32 years old when he took over Kentucky's program after the 1945 season. He will be the youngest head coach in the SEC and one of the youngest in the nation (Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham is one of a handful of younger head coaches).

Stein
Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein is reportedly headed home to Kentucky to coach the Wildcats. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
Published
Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

Home/News