Prepare to have your brain broken into a billion pieces... Ralph Russo of The Athletic dropped the most interesting hypothetical bombshell of a piece of content you would ever hope to see on the last Friday in February. He took it upon himself to project who the head coach will be at every Power Four school, as well as Notre Dame in 2030. It includes a interesting series of wrinkles involving Kentucky.
Stein finds himself in a chain of five well-thought-of coaches switching jobs. It starts with it being the end of the line for Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Russo tabs SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee as his successor sometime between next offseason, or before 2030. Again, this is a hypothetical exercise involving forecasting who each team of note's head coach might be to start the next decade in FBS.
With Lashlee leaving SMU for Clemson, Russo has Josh Heupel pulling a good, old-fashioned Scott Satterfield of leaving a job he is failing at in hopes to reset a bit. He takes over the Mustangs, while vacating Tennessee. That is where Will Stein comes in. He is projected to leave Kentucky for rival Tennessee after a job well done in Lexington. Oh, this will certainly ruffle some feathers along the way.
As a consolation prize, Brian Hartline shall be the one to take over at UK after a strong run at USF.
Will Stein projected to leave Kentucky for Tennessee before 2030 season
One of the biggest reasons to be a believer in Stein is he seems to embody the "Why not us?" mantra. He knows how hard this job can be, but he is also from Kentucky. The Louisville native and former Cardinals quarterback became a star coordinator on Dan Lanning's Oregon staff the last few years. Firmly in his mid-30s, now is the time for the entire college football world to see what he is all about.
If all goes according to plan, Stein will emerge as one of the best up-and-coming offensive minds in the sport before the end of the decade. The good news with that is Kentucky should bounce back big time if that proves to be the case. The bad news is some other team may come big-game hunting for him. If that team ends up being Tennessee, look for history to repeat itself like Lane Kiffin's decision...
So in the event Stein marvels in the next four years or so at Kentucky, the job will be in a better spot than when he found it. While it remains to be seen how good of a head coach Hartline will be, he may be ready for a Power Four gig by then. Frankly, he was the only other candidate of note to interview for this job that went to Stein. We know Hartline is an elite recruiter and can develop wide receivers.
It should be noted his kid brother Mike Hartline was the last UK quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards.