The audacity of Kentucky coach Will Stein — SkimNews
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- Will Stein, a 37-year-old rookie head coach, has Kentucky at 6-1 and tied for second in the SEC after the Wildcats were picked to finish 14th in the conference preseason, drawing comparisons to Indiana and Curt Cignetti as another basketball-school-turned-football-power.
- Stein ordered overtime two-point conversions against both South Carolina and LSU instead of kicking extra points, a gambler's mentality his former Louisville colleague Shawn Watson described as "brave."
- Kentucky was coming off a 5-7 season under Mark Stoops when Stein was hired, and he moved to rally the fanbase by bringing back former head coach Rich Brooks and No. 1 draft pick Tim Couch, plus reviving the long-dormant "Power K" logo.
- Stein was a state champion quarterback at Trinity High in Louisville who walked on at rival Louisville after Kentucky didn't offer him a spot; he later joined Charlie Strong's staff as a graduate assistant during a 12-1 season and worked under Bobby Petrino before stops at Texas and in Texas high school football.
- Rich Brooks defended Stein's viral SEC media days line — "because of me" — saying the media cut off the fuller explanation and calling Stein a "cocky guy" who has since "backed it up."
- Jeff Traylor, now UTSA's head coach and Stein's former roommate at Texas, calls him "Sunshine Will Stein" and credits his "perfect little man syndrome" — a self-confidence that has paid off often enough to be untouchable, not unlike walk-on-turned-Heisman-winner Baker Mayfield, whom Stein's first coordinator Hank Carter also coached at Lake Travis.
Why it matters: Stein has flipped Kentucky from a 5-7 afterthought into a College Football Playoff contender in his first season by betting on bold overtime calls and fan-rallying nostalgia moves. With No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee still on the November schedule, the Wildcats' playoff path runs through three top-15 opponents — and the audaciousness that produced the 6-1 start will be tested by exactly the heavyweight programs Kentucky is trying to crash.
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