Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart gave new UK coach Will Stein a jersey after his first press conference ended. (Vicky Graff Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
There were “many things” about Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, a Kentucky native, that intrigued Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart when he was looking for a new football coach.
“First and foremost as a player and a coach, he’s won at every level, whether that’s from high school, college, to the different places he’s journeyed along his way in his coaching career. That’s what we want to be about, we want to be about winning,” Barnhart said at Wednesday’s introductory press conference for Stein, UK’s new coach.
Barnhart liked that Stein grew up in Louisville as a Kentucky fan who attended over 100 UK football games with his parents, who were UK football and basketball season ticket holders. Stein attended UK basketball coach Tubby Smith’s summer basketball camp and had UK All-American Tayshaun Prince as his camp counselor.
“He has a unique passion for this program and this community. He has local knowledge and connections. Very, very special to Kentucky. It’s a bonus for us. It’s not where we started. It’s not why he is the new head coach at Kentucky,” Barnhart said. “He’s widely considered an innovative and exciting offensive mind, play-caller, with a dynamic scheme that stresses defenses. That’s what we want.
“We want to be able to stress opponents in a lot of different ways, whether it’s offensively or defensively. He is with a system right now that does that at a very, very high level.”
Barnhart liked that Stein has been a quarterback coach and will “be in the helmet” of the quarterback calling plays during games.
“We have to score points at a high level to be able to have a chance to compete where we want to compete,” the Kentucky athletics director said. “He’s coached Heisman Trophy finalists the past two years, guys that were drafted in the NFL and were ready to be starters in the league as rookies. That is not easy to do. That means they were well-prepared as they came out. Super excited for our guys that are coming along.
“He’s taken calculated risks at various points in his career to climb the highest mountains in college football. We must be willing to do that.”
