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Will Stein is at Kentucky because of what he accomplished at Oregon. Yet, he won’t be doing the thing that got him on UK’s radar. The 36-year-old is giving up play calling after a four-year run at UTSA.
Why is the youngest coach in the SEC letting go of something he became elite at? Stein’s management of this key part of the Kentucky football organization became a major talking point at SEC Media Days on Monday. New offensive coordinator Joe Sloan is getting a big opportunity in Lexington.
“One of the most fun things you can do as a coach is call plays. It’s awesome. It’s thrilling. You get to see your plays come to life, but it takes a village. It’s not like it’s just me coming up with the entire game plan by myself, locked in a room. It took an entire offensive staff at Oregon and UTSA to get the results that we wanted,” Stein said on the SEC Network. “So I’m gonna be hand in hand with Joe. You know, we built the offense really through our Oregon offense and UTSA, and there’s some things that I knew Joe was doing that I wanted to get involved with, but just hadn’t gotten to that point yet at Oregon. And so now we’ve put these brains together — not just Joe, but our entire staff — and built I think a really cool offense that’s going to be beneficial for our players.”
The first-year head coach said he was convicted on the decision and quickly decided that someone else would call plays in Lexington after getting the job. Stein has been quick to point out that no primary play caller as a head coach has won a national title since Jimbo Fisher raised the crystal football at Florida State back in 2013. So the new program CEO in Lexington is handing the keys to an assistant with coordinator experience in the SEC.
Sloan is entering his fifth consecutive year in the Southeastern Conference. The former East Carolina quarterback worked for Skip Holtz at South Florida and Louisiana Tech before becoming an assistant for Brian Kelly at LSU in 2022. Sloan was an offensive coordinator for the Bulldogs from 2020-21 before receiving a promotion in Baton Rouge after two years as the quarterbacks coach for Jayden Daniels. The Tigers No. 35 nationally in yards per play in 2024 when Garrett Nussmeier threw for over 4,000 yards before the bottom fell out in 2025 that included Nussmeier playing through a serious injury. The new Kentucky assistant has made a big early splash on the recruiting trail for the Wildcats and will bring some things that Stein finds valuable to the table this football season.
“I think we possess a lot of the same qualities. I mean, he’s almost like a brother to me now. But I’m very excited about Joe getting this opportunity at Kentucky. I think he’s one of the elite quarterback coaches in the country. Develops them at a very high rate,” Stein said on Monday. “What he did with Nuss, what he did with Jayden (Daniels) at LSU was really, really impressive. We talked ball the last few seasons whenever we could. We’d get on a zoom or see each other at a conference, and just draw up stuff on a piece of paper about offensive football. So we share a lot of similarities in just how we think. How we approach the game.
“Elite communicator. Especially for a coordinator, communication is huge. Presence, confidence that he has. I’ve been very impressed with that. Then, I mean, the man can recruit. He can really recruit. He can move the needle. He seems to know everybody. He’s already probably of the mayor of Chevy Chase in Lexington.”
The new mayor of the Kentucky football program is getting a third year as a play caller in the SEC. This time he will be working with Stein looking to take over for a play caller who has pumped out top-10 offenses.The new head coach has a lot of confidence in the man he tabbed to take his old job.
