Kentucky’s first staff under Will Stein is getting close to being done, and the latest piece looks like a direct answer to a problem Big Blue Nation has been yelling about for more than two seasons.
CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported Kentucky is expected to hire Cal defensive backs coach Allen Brown as its cornerbacks coach, with Brandon Marcello also on the report.
If the move becomes official, it’s the kind of hire that makes a defensive coordinator sleep better and makes a fan base stop doing the math on third-and-long nightmares.
Kentucky football reportedly adds Allen Brown to Will Stein’s staff
Brown arrives with a track record that’s pretty easy to sell in one sentence: his most recent secondary didn’t give up many touchdown passes.
Cal’s postseason release notes the Bears allowed the fewest passing touchdowns in the ACC in 2025, with 10 thrown against them, while also ranking among the league’s better passing defenses by yardage.
That matters because Kentucky isn’t hiring a corners coach to tweak technique for fun. It’s hiring one because the Wildcats have to get faster, tighter, and more dependable on the back end quickly. If 2026 is going to look anything like “turnaround” instead of “another rebuild.”
Kentucky gave up 250.7 passing yards per game last season, which ranked 114th nationally. Opponents also completed 61.79% of their throws against the Wildcats, which sat 64th nationally.
That mix of explosive yards allowed plus too many comfortable completions is how you end up playing defense like you’re always one step late. It’s also how a crowd goes from loud to anxious in about two first downs.
Allen Brown’s coaching background fits the job description
Brown’s résumé checks a lot of boxes Kentucky typically values in assistant hires: West Coast recruiting footprint, Power Four experience, and a path that’s climbed steadily rather than skipping steps.
Brown returned to Berkeley in January 2025 as a defensive backs coach after previously working at Cal in 2022, with prior stops including Washington State and Florida. Brown’s background as a defensive backs quality control coach at Florida gives him SEC experience. He also coached at Eastern Washington from 2019–21 as cornerbacks coach/defensive pass game coordinator.
Translation: he’s been in different systems, different recruiting realities, and different weekly stress levels. That usually helps when you walk into the SEC and immediately have to teach corners how to survive Saturdays where every receiver group is fast and every quarterback thinks he’s an NFL scout team legend.
Jay Bateman should love this and so should BBN
When a program hires a new defensive coordinator, you can usually predict the first public mission statement: tackle better, communicate better, stop giving up explosives.
Brown is a practical hire for that exact mission, especially with Kentucky already announcing Jay Bateman as defensive coordinator. Bateman doesn’t need a corners coach who wants to reinvent football; he needs someone who can coach the position with detail, build confidence, and make “coverage bust” feel like an extinct species.
And for fans? This is the kind of move that reads like Kentucky finally admitted what everyone else already knew: you don’t fix the secondary with vibes. You fix it with coaching, repetition, and players who stop panicking when the ball is in the air.
Kentucky football’s secondary has to improve fast for 2026
The toughest part here is the timeline.
Kentucky isn’t getting a slow runway. The schedule isn’t going to politely wait while the staff installs terminology and the roster settles. If the Wildcats are going to be dangerous in 2026, they need the pass defense to look competent early. They can't afford to wait until midseason, or not “once the young guys grow up,” and definitely not “after a couple of portal cycles.”
That’s why Brown’s Cal results jump off the page. Even if you don’t want to reduce a corners coach to one stat, fewest passing TDs allowed usually means a few important things were happening behind the scenes. They have good leverage, their eyes were disciplined, and the secondary didn’t turn every red-zone snap into a coin flip.
Kentucky doesn’t need perfection. It needs stability. It needs corners who can contest throws without drawing flags. It needs safeties and corners speaking the same language pre-snap. It needs the kind of weekly baseline that keeps your defense from living in survival mode.
What’s left for Will Stein’s first Kentucky staff
If Brown is the guy, Kentucky’s on-field staff picture is close to complete, and the remaining conversation turns to structure. Specifically, whether Stein wants a dedicated special teams coordinator or prefers special teams duties handled within position groups.
That choice is one of those behind-the-curtain decisions that can look minor in December and feel enormous the first time a punt return flips a game.
For now, the headline is simple: Kentucky is expected to add a cornerbacks coach whose most recent unit made touchdown throws hard to find, and that’s a pretty good place to start. Especially when you’re trying to drag a pass defense up the national ranks in a hurry.