The two most successful head coaches in College Football are Kirby Smart at Georgia and Ryan Day at Ohio State. Smart is 116-20 in 10 years in Georgia with two national championships. Ryan Day is 82-10 in Ohio State with a National Championship, and currently has a 12-0 team and is the favorite to win it all this year. They both also have something in common, as they both were coordinators before they got their jobs as head coaches. Neither had any head coaching experience.
Their backstories are important because Kentucky just hired Will Stein, the offensive coordinator from Oregon. Kentucky fired Mark Stoops after 13 seasons and immediately hired Stein. Stein, to me, is a good coach and an excellent hire for Kentucky.
Stein's Fit at Kentucky
I like the fit for Stein a lot at Kentucky. He played football at Louisville and then was an assistant there for two years, so he knows the state well. He has also coached at Texas as an assistant. So, he knows the SEC from his brief stint there as a coach. He was also a successful offensive coordinator at UTSA in Texas. Then he has been Oregon’s offensive coordinator for the last three years.
I have always enjoyed his playcalling as an offensive coordinator. His ability to have balance as a run offense and as a pass offense is impressive. He always seems to understand situational football well and knows how to call plays at the right time. This should come in handy in Kentucky, where Stoops, as a defensive coach, mostly struggled with his offenses. This season, Kentucky was 105th in the country in total yards on offense.
The other area he will help with is quarterback development. He did a good job of developing Beau Nix and Dillan Gabriel after both transferred to Oregon. As they both were drafted in the NFL. Then you add in this year's quarterback, Donte Moore's development, and you see consistent quarterback play for Oregon. This is something Kentucky didn’t have in the Stoops era.
Downsides of Stein Hire
You truly never know how a 1st time head coach will respond to being a head coach for the 1st time. How will he juggle NIL, recruiting, and the transfer portal? It’s a new world for College Football Head Coaches with all the responsibilities they have. I think Stein is ready for this opportunity and should have a good chance of being successful. An example of a recent successful transition from coordinator to head coach is Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham, who led Arizona State to the College Football Playoff last year after winning the Big 12. He was the offensive coordinator at Oregon before Stein, so the precedent is there for Stein to be successful.
Final Grade for Stein Hire B+
I think Stein is an excellent choice for Kentucky. He knows the area well from playing and coaching there. Kentucky offenses have been putrid for a long time, so I expect Stein should improve in this area. The only concern is the lack of coaching experience. The other part of the puzzle is that Kentucky was patient with Stoops through some down seasons; I expect they will do the same with Stein as well. I think he had a chance to be an excellent coach for a long time at Kentucky.