kentucky hired out oregon Offensive coordinator Will Stein has been hired as the school’s head football coach, it was announced Monday.
“I am honored and excited to become the next head coach at Kentucky,” Steen said in a statement. Statement issued by the school“Growing up in Kentucky and sitting in the stands at UK games as a kid, I could only dream of leading the Wildcats one day, This is truly a dream come true,”
Sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that Steen agreed to a five-year deal with the Wildcats.
The 36-year-old Steen, a Kentucky native, has emerged as one of the nation’s top offensive coordinators and playcallers after working with several notable quarterbacks at Oregon.
According to a source, Steen will remain in his role as Oregon’s offensive coordinator and playcaller during the team’s playoff run. The Ducks finished the regular season 11–1 and were ranked sixth in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning hired Steen from UTSA in 2022, where he was part of the offensive staff from 2020 to 2022 as well as co-offensive coordinator during his final season there.
Since arriving in Eugene, Steen has helped lead the program to a top 10 scoring offense in two of his three years. While in this role, Stein has also coached two Heisman Trophy finalists – quarterbacks bo nix (2023) and dillon gabriel (2024).
Like his predecessor Kenny Dillingham, who left his post as Oregon offensive coordinator to become Arizona State’s coach in 2023 (Dillingham is from Phoenix), Steen will be going back to his roots.
Steen played quarterback at Louisville from 2009 to 2012 and appeared in 25 career games. Steen’s parents both attended Kentucky and he grew up going to Wildcats games.
One of the highlights of Steen’s quarterback background for the Kentucky brass was the matchup with the promising redshirt freshman quarterback cutter saidHe’s a local product who threw for 15 touchdowns as a true freshman and keeping him at home has been a priority for the school,
Kentucky fired longtime coach Mark Stoops on Sunday after 13 seasons. The Wildcats finished with a 5-7 record this season after going 4-8 in 2024.
“I played in a West Coast offense at Louisville,” Steen told ESPN in an interview last year. “so [his offensive system] All this is a derivative of that. We play fast and free and we put a lot of bets on the quarterback, but we also give them a lot of freedom.”
With the move, the program is betting on Steen’s offensive skills and the history of the quarterback game after several recent struggles on that side of the ball.
Kentucky has failed to have a top-50 offense since the 2021 season and has ranked no better than 100th in total offense in each of the last three seasons. In 2025, the Wildcats averaged 341 yards, which ranked 105th.
“It’s hard to put a label on what we do [as an offense] Because we kind of do it all,” Stein said of his vision in 2024. “This is where college football is going.”
