When the numbers on Will Stein’s contract came out, the first reaction wasn’t really about Stein at all. It was about the guy who just left.
Will Stein’s deal:
- 5 years, $28.5 million
- Year 1: $5.5 million
- Escalating up to $5.9 million in Year 5
- 70% buyout if Kentucky fires him, spread out monthly thankfully
- Automatic extension for a College Football Playoff appearance
Mark Stoops? He was making around $9 million per year, almost $3.5–4 million more than Stein will in 2026.
That’s the part that hits home for fans.
This isn’t personal. Stoops did raise the floor of Kentucky football, beat some big brands, and take the program to places it hadn’t been in decades. But the last four years told a different story:
- No 8-win season since 2019 because the 10-win 2021 was later vacated
- A steady slide into 7–6, 5–7 territory
- Offenses that never found a true identity
At some point, the salary stopped matching the product.
Stein’s contract resets that imbalance. He’s being paid like what he is, a high-upside, first-time SEC head coach, not a made man with multiple trophy cases to point to.
But here’s the wrinkle: Kentucky is now effectively paying around $11 million a year for its head coach position, $5–6 million to Stein and roughly $6–7 million annually to Stoops in severance for the next several years.
That does two things:
- Raises expectations for Stein immediately.
If you’re paying NFL money for the position, fans aren’t going to be patient with four-win seasons and “we competed hard” speeches. - Puts pressure on everyone above him.
Mitch Barnhart and the administration chose this structure. They decided it was worth it to eat Stoops’ number and still push big chips in on the next guy.
What Will Stein’s Kentucky contract really tells us
Stein’s deal also signals that Kentucky is done pretending it can’t play in the same financial sandbox as the rest of the SEC. The assistant pool is competitive. Incentives for the CFP, SEC titles, and big seasons are built-in. The language screams: we’re not here to just sneak into the Gator Bowl anymore.
For years, fans felt something was off, that the results didn’t match the checks. Now the contract numbers make that feeling official.
Stein still has to prove he’s the right guy. But his deal confirms what Kentucky fans knew all along about the last era:
Mark Stoops wasn’t the worst coach in America.
He was just being paid like someone he never truly became.