With the firing of Mark Stoops, Mitch Barnhart should bring in Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein to lead Kentucky football into the future.
Moving on from the winningest coach in school history was absolutely necessary, but with that done, it now turns to what’s next?
Stein currently resides around 2,400 miles away in Eugene, Oregon and he should be the first call Barnhart makes in this search.
While he may currently be far away, Stein grew up where Stoops coached his final game with the Wildcats in Louisville, Kentucky.
Despite being closer to the Cardinals, Stein grew up rooting for the Wildcats in blue and white. This could be in large part to both his parents being graduates of UK and his father, Matt, playing quarterback for the Wildcats.
Furthermore, Stein and his family were season ticket holders for Kentucky football during his childhood.
Unlike his father, Stein played his college football at Louisville nearly 20 years ago as a walk-on quarterback.
Big Blue Nation is a community that is much more accepting of one of their own than someone coming in from the outside, and Stein fits that bill.
If you’re looking for a comparison, look no further than the last major coaching search at Kentucky in the spring of 2024.
Fans were initially outraged when Mark Pope was named Kentucky men’s basketball Head Coach, but after the immediate reactions, BBN united around Pope and it sent a tidal wave of energy into the program.
The fans rallied behind Pope and created an unforgettable moment by packing Rupp Arena full for an introductory press conference.
There is no denying that this football program has little to be excited about or look forward to, but bringing in one of their own could certainly energize BBN.
Now, if you want to completely remove the Stein-Kentucky connection, this move makes perfect sense from a football standpoint.
You have had a defensive-minded coach at the helm for 13 seasons and that is no longer the best way to win in the SEC.
Sure some programs dominate on defense and it leads to wins, but they also have elite offenses to boot and that is exactly what Kentucky needs.
One of the positives going into this offseason is the young offensive nucleus currently on the team with quarterback Cutter Boley, running back Jason Patterson and several young wide receivers who showed promise like Hardley Gilmore IV.
The best way to maximize this opportunity is by bringing in a proven offensive mastermind like Stein.
There is no better time for a change like this in Lexington because 10 coaches are already on expiring contracts and current offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan’s buyout is at $250,000 now that he has completed his second season at UK.
It’s going to be very easy to restart this program completely from scratch with a brand new offensive mentality if Stein should choose to do so without costing significantly more money than has already been dished out.
During his time as offensive coordinator at Oregon, Stein has churned out two NFL quarterbacks in Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel.
In his first season calling plays at Oregon, Stein’s offense averaged 500.5 yards per game, which was sixth in the country.
Stein topped this in his second season by moving up to second with 531.4 total yards of offense per game.
Last season, the offense dropped down a bit to 22nd in the country at 437 yards per game.
However, this season Stein’s offense is 13th in the country in yards per game with 465.2
The bottom line is that Stein can build an offense that can put up numbers, which has plagued the Wildcats the past two seasons.
One thing that will always reign true is that offense will put fans in the stands even if the record is not all that good. Watching the ball fly down the field is always more fun to watch when it’s the home team catching it versus a defense-first mindset still giving up points in bunches.
Another key element of this coaching search is that the position needs to be filled fast. National Signing Day is on Wednesday and the transfer portal will open in January, which means the new staff needs to be fully locked in soon.
When conversations around Stoops began earlier in the 2025 season, Stein’s name came up along with Jon Sumrall as potential favorites for the job.
Sumrall was taken off the board on Sunday afternoon, hours before Stoops was fired as he accepted a job to become Florida’s next head coach.
With the major favorite off the board, Stein is up next and he should be by every account.
Stein fits the bill of everything that Kentucky needs to bring some life into the program and directly addresses some of the biggest pitfalls that have plagued Kentucky in recent years.
This program is starving for an offensive reset and Stein is just the guy to get it back on track and he’s proven he can do it year in, year out.
On top of that, Stein has been a member of BBN for a long time and deserves a chance to refill the stands he sat in as a kid and bring Kentucky back to an SEC contender.
It’s worth noting that Oregon is primed for a College Football Playoff spot and that could complicate things, but it should not change anything in the grand scheme.
The two jobs would overlap a bit, but Stein would not be the only coach pulling double duty and could still build a new program in Lexington while finishing out his duties in Eugene.
There will be plenty of phone calls made by Barnhart, but none should be taken seriously until you make Stein say no.
