Will Stein is quietly building a monster Kentucky staff

When Will Stein took the podium for the first time as Kentucky’s head coach, he didn’t just talk about plays or buzzwords. He talked about people.

“I have my coordinators really picked out,” he said. “We’re going to create great culture for our guys. We’re going to hire an elite staff. Have some of the best coordinators in the country… Everybody wants to work with Will Stein, and everybody wants to work at the University of Kentucky.”

That’s a bold promise. Now, his staff moves are starting to match the talk. See the coaches he has chosen to join him in Lexington across the next slides, this will be updated as soon as announcements are made.

OC- Joe Sloan

Joe Sloan, the former LSU offensive coordinator, is set to run the offense in Lexington. That’s a huge get for a first-time SEC head coach. Sloan brings Power Four playcalling experience, quarterback development chops, and recruiting credibility in talent-rich areas Kentucky needs to hit.

OL Coach- Cutter Leftwich

Oregon assistant offensive line coach and run game coordinator Cutter Leftwich is going to be Will Stein's first OL coach. A position made famous at Kentucky by John Schlarman, Leftwich will have his work cut out for him after Jalen Farmer decided to go pro.

RB coach- Kolby Smith

Kolby Smith is another great hire that has a lot of offensive experience, this team will have 3 former playcallers at high level institutions on its offensive staff. That is a massive peice of the puzzle for a young coach.

WR coach- Joe Price

Joe Price is a guy that has done a lot of things. At UTSA was an associate head coach, a passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach. Before that, he was a director of player personnel, and he was also a director of recruiting. The guy knows his stuff and has done it in nearly every possible way.

TE Coach- Justin Burke

Coming over as OC at UTSA, Burke brings a familiar system to Lexington as the one Stein will employ. Derek Shay was initially a candidate to stay, but he chose to go to Texas A&M who are playing coaching swap with Kentucky; with Jay Bateman coming to Lexington as the new DC.

QB Coach is still TBD, but that may just fall on Will Stein himself. We will update as soon as that is announced.

Defensive Coordinator- Jay Bateman

As soon as Texas A&M's season ends in the CFP, Jay Bateman will head to Lexington to be the DC for Will Stein. An aggressive recruiter, and an aggressive coach will keep Kentucky on the pedal on defense. It will be a huge shift from Brad White and Mark Stoops who played that bend-not-break style. If you'd like to dive deeper into the stats, you can read about his past here.

Defensive line coach- Anwar Stewart

Stewart has been tapped to stay on board with Will Stein as a holdover from Mark Stoops staff, they will have to work out a new contract as Stewart was expired. Stein is prizing recruiting and Stewart was one of the best on the previous staff.

Linebackers- Chad Wilt

If there is one thing this staff has, it is a common connection of working in the Big Ten and working with each other. Wilt continues that having been at Indiana and Michigan State plus working at Army with Jay Bateman.

DE/OLB- Tony Washington Jr.

Having been on staff with Stein at Oregon, the familiarity between the men brought him to Lexington after working with Ohio State last year.

Cornerbacks coach- Allen Brown

Coming from Cal, Allen Brown can do one thing and that is help limit touchdowns. His Cal defense allowed only 10 passing TD's last year which was the lowest in the ACC.

Safeties coach- Josh Christian-Young

Josh Christian-Young Houston’s defense ranked 19th nationally in red zone defense. In 2024 they limited opposing teams to 188 passing yards per game, which also was the fewest passing yards allowed in a non-COVID year in 3 decades. Now he will be plying his trade in Lexington.

Special Teams coach- Parker Fleming

Stein has said he really wants to have an elite group in all three phases of the game, including special teams. And this hire of Parker Fleming is definitely a move in that direction. He began his career at Ohio State, then moved along to James Madison, Texas State, back to Ohio State and then to Oregon. Now he follows Stein to Kentucky. He also has experience coaching WR's and QB's. He will also coach inside WR's for Kentucky.

Will Stein’s early Kentucky staff moves show what kind of program he wants to run

Will the final staff match the sales pitch perfectly? We’ll see. But the early blueprint is encouraging: real Power Four experience on offense, SEC familiarity in the trenches, and a staff full of guys who have big time history.

If Stein truly nails DC with Bateman, OL coach with Leftwitch, and the recruiting-heavy hires all work, this could be the kind of staff that not only helps him survive in the SEC, but actually carves out a new identity for Kentucky football.

Now comes the hard part, proving on Saturdays that the staff really is as elite as he promised.

Stay tuned as we update Will Stein's first year staff in his first year as a head coach with Kentucky football.