{"id":397509,"date":"2026-01-09T16:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/397509\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:21:07","slug":"will-stein-is-focused-on-oregon-and-confident-about-what-hes-building-at-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/397509\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Stein is focused on Oregon — and confident about what he’s building at Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Stein is a busy guy right now. Kentucky\u2019s new head coach is juggling building a team in Lexington and fulfilling his duties as Oregon\u2019s offensive coordinator in the College Football Playoff, a balance few people know.<\/p>\n

Dan Lanning, the Ducks\u2019 head coach, is one of them, accepting the job at Oregon in December 2021 while helping guide Georgia to the national championship as the Bulldogs\u2019 defensive coordinator. Stein\u2019s kinship with Lanning is just one reason that, despite having a very loaded plate in Lexington, he\u2019s all in on the Ducks\u2019 title run. When asked about Kentucky at Peach Bowl Media Day, Stein politely deferred, saying he\u2019s focused solely on Oregon right now \u2014 but still found a way to express confidence about what he\u2019s building in Lexington. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed to be in the position I\u2019m in,\u201d Stein said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s really surreal that I\u2019m in this position. I\u2019ve really just tried to focus all my energy on what I\u2019m doing at the present moment,\u00a0and not trying to think too much about things I can\u2019t control.\u00a0What I know that I can control is trying to be the best offensive coordinator for the\u00a0Oregon Ducks right now, give our guys a great plan, and give it my all to this university\u00a0that\u2019s given me so much and my family so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Stein was asked about balancing the two jobs more than once. When it came up again later, a layer was peeled back. Not being able to be in Lexington 24\/7 to build his new team makes life more difficult, but it\u2019s worth it when you can point to the reason why.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019ve got a lot of guys back there who really just try to stay present.\u00a0Those guys are doing a hell of a job back there for me, but they also know that the most important thing for that program is for us to be successful here at Oregon\u00a0because it\u2019s a testament to what the blueprint is and how to go be successful. So, yeah, I mean, I\u2019ve got a lot of help there.\u00a0I\u2019ve got a lot of help here.\u00a0I\u2019ve got great family support, too. And, you know, it\u2019s just really exciting to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take advantage of our KSR+ TRANSFER PORTAL SALE to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including the latest Transfer Portal intel, game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and a year of access to The Athletic. Annual subscriptions are 50% off for a limited time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Stein said this week in Atlanta is a \u201cbusiness trip.\u201d He left his kids back in Oregon so he could tune out distractions and try to get some sleep \u2014 although the bags underneath the 36-year-old\u2019s eyes suggest that\u2019s a work in progress. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I was told I look refreshed today, which is like I have not felt that way, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Stein quipped. \u201cBut, again, I mean, like the NFL playoffs are starting.\u00a0This is a long freaking season, long season.\u00a0So it\u2019s human nature. Everybody\u2019s tired.\u00a0Everybody\u2019s cranky at times.\u00a0It\u2019s colder around. You know, it gets dark sooner.\u00a0Like it\u2019s human nature.\u00a0Everybody\u2019s feeling that type of way. It\u2019s the people that can handle the chaos the best are the people that succeed the most in our sport right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

How confident is Stein? Check out the group he put himself in as that answer went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd is it easy?\u00a0No, it\u2019s not easy for anybody.\u00a0Me, Dan [Lanning], Curt Cignetti, Kirby Smart, Nick Saban. I know he\u2019s not even in coaching, but it\u2019s probably not easy for him. It\u2019s not easy.\u00a0But that\u2019s what we signed up for.\u00a0That\u2019s why they pay us a lot of money to coach a kid\u2019s sport, you know. I mean, it\u2019s their greatest gig in the world.\u00a0And somebody told me there\u2019s no crying from the yacht, you know.\u00a0And so I\u2019m very blessed, fortunate, and just looking forward to this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHAS11\u2019s Sarandon Raboin gave it one more shot, closing the media scrum by asking Stein if he had any thoughts on Kentucky\u2019s current portal class. The Cats have added 13 players from the transfer portal, including former Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey. It\u2019s a heck of a haul so far, but Stein is going to hold off on bragging about it for now \u2014 even if he couldn\u2019t help himself with his final line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to sit here and talk to you about all that stuff.\u00a0I really am not going to just because I owe it to Oregon currently\u00a0to be completely present here. I am in the position I\u2019m in because of President Scholz, Dan Lanning, [athletic director] Rob Mullens,\u00a0[defensive coordinator] Tosh Lupoi, my whole staff, Dante Moore, Bo Nix, and Dillon Gabriel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that got me to this opportunity, and if I were to be talking about that right now, I would just \u2013\u00a0I don\u2019t want to do that. But I think it\u2019s pretty evident what\u2019s going on over there,\u00a0and we can talk about that later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Stein is a busy guy right now. Kentucky\u2019s new head coach is juggling building a team in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-397509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}