Will Stein reveals how his former Louisville teammates reacted to him taking Kentucky job

New Kentucky head coach Will Stein is a Bluegrass native, but played college football for the Wildcats’ in-state rival, Louisville. At a recent press conference, Stein revealed how his former teammates reacted to him becoming Kentucky’s head coach.

“Supportive. Very supportive,” Stein said. “I have a few of them on staff now. Justin Burke, my tight ends coach. Pete Nochta, who is my assistant GM. Kolby Smith is our running backs coach. So, yeah, super supportive.

“All of those guys are extremely happy. Is there a big rivalry? Of course. But I’m still their teammate and their friend and I have had an outpouring of support from former players, even people that have worked there prior or even are associated with that program, just because of my relationship prior to them.”

Stein played at Louisville from 2008-12. He made 25 career appearances for the Cardinals, amassing 1,273 passing yards and six touchdowns, compared to two interceptions.

When Stein concluded his collegiate career, he immediately joined the Cardinals’ staff as a graduate assistant. He only continued to rise from there, making stops at Texas, UTSA and, most recently, Oregon.

Stein served as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2023-25. In Stein’s three seasons as the Ducks’ primary play-caller, Oregon never ranked outside of the top-25 in total offense.

Most notably, the Ducks averaged the second-most yards per game in the country in 2023. Despite being named Kentucky’s head coach in December, Stein finished the season with Oregon and coached the Ducks in the College Football Playoff.

Now, Stein is excited to enter his debut campaign at Kentucky and, perhaps, even hand his alma mater a stifling loss in the process. He isn’t wasting anytime gaining an advantage.

“The guys are working out four days a week,” Stein said. “We are really setting a standard in the weight room with our strength and conditioning program, building out our DNA traits, connection, accountability, toughness, sacrifice, making that who we are, not just what we say. And really diving into the people.

“I talk about connection a lot. My thing is learning everybody’s name on our roster. I know it sounds easy. You have got 105 guys you are working with. I wasn’t here for a month and a half really and now I am here. So now it is like putting the names with the faces and making sure that they know my connection is real with them.”