When Will Stein accepted the Kentucky job, his first call for offensive coordinator wasn’t some mystery name from a search firm. It was a guy he already trusted in dark film rooms and on long offseason calls: Joe Sloan.
In his first interview with Kentucky media, Sloan made it clear this move wasn’t a leap of faith. It was the next step in a partnership that’s been building for years.
“I've known Will a long time,” Sloan said. “We studied a bunch of film in the offseasons with each other and got to be really good friends. He called me and said, ‘Hey, I think I'm going to be the head coach at Kentucky. You want to come?’ I said, ‘Uh, yeah, absolutely, man. Let's go.’”
That’s not just networking. That’s a head coach and offensive coordinator who already speak the same language.
Joe Sloan says ‘We’re going to build an offensive powerhouse in the SEC’
Stein has been open about wanting to operate as a true CEO, the program’s big-picture architect, not a play-caller who happens to have a whistle. That only works if he hires someone he can trust to run the offense like it’s his own.
Sloan sounds all-in on that dynamic.
“He wants to be the best head coach and I want to be the best offensive coordinator for him,” Sloan explained. “We have similar mindsets... We’re going to work this thing together and we’re going to build an offensive powerhouse in the SEC.”
That’s the money line. After a decade of “good enough” on offense and long stretches of slog-it-out football, hearing the OC flat-out say “offensive powerhouse” is going to hit BBN right in the chest.
And Sloan isn’t talking about a three-year rebuild, either. He likes what he sees already in Lexington.
“There are some unbelievable pieces here on the roster that see our vision,” he said.
That doesn’t mean the roster is finished, it is far from it in the portal and revenue-share era, but it does mean he thinks there’s enough already in place to start attacking, not just surviving.
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How a friendship built on film study led Joe Sloan to Lexington
On paper, Stein and Sloan fit together almost too well.
Stein brings the résumé Kentucky fans already know by heart: Oregon’s explosive attack, Bo Nix’s late-career leap, the creativity in space. Sloan brings his own track record of developing quarterbacks and coordinating passing games with Jayden Daniels, while also being comfortable letting the head coach zoom out and run the whole operation.
The key is that they see the game the same way.
Both believe in:
- Aggressive, efficient passing built on high-percentage throws that keep the chains moving.
- Using tempo and spacing to stress defenses instead of grinding into stacked boxes.
- Building an offense that quarterbacks and wide receivers actually want to play in.
Stein doesn’t need a yes-man. He needs a partner who can build a system that looks like his philosophy, even when he’s in a recruiting meeting or sitting in with the defense. Sloan checks that box.
Not a total rebuild — a launchpad
One of the more encouraging parts of Sloan’s comments was how often he came back to the current roster.
He acknowledged the offensive line will need work, and that there’s building to do in the portal and in future classes. But he didn’t talk like a guy inheriting a crater. He talked like someone who believes there are real building blocks already here, especially at quarterback and receiver, if they can be developed and put in the right system.
That matters in the SEC. You can’t afford two or three “throwaway” years anymore. The portal clock never stops ticking, and recruits don’t sit around waiting for your three-year plan to mature.
Sloan seems to understand that reality. He’s not promising instant perfection, but he is clearly planning for Kentucky’s offense to be dangerous sooner rather than later.
For years, Kentucky’s identity has been built around toughness, defense, and just enough offense to get by. It worked well enough to get the program out of the basement, but it also put a ceiling on what was possible.
Stein and Sloan are here to raise that ceiling.
If they hit on this vision, Kentucky’s identity shifts from “hope we can score enough” to “try to keep up.” That’s a massive philosophical change, and it’s the kind of swing you take when you actually believe you can compete at the top of the league.
Now the question becomes simple: Can they match the talk? If the chemistry between head coach and OC looks on Saturdays like it reads on paper, this partnership could be the engine that finally drags Kentucky’s offense into the modern SEC arms race.