‘He’s a savant’: Will Stein’s mentors are confident he will find success at UK
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Will Stein built coaching résumé through Texas, Lake Travis and UTSA roles.
- At Oregon and UTSA he developed NFL quarterbacks and produced top offenses.
- Mentors praise his work ethic, leadership and relationship-building.
If Will Stein is as meticulous about coaching Kentucky football as he was about taking care of his responsibilities around the house as a young assistant coach living with an older colleague, the Wildcats should be in good shape.
“He made his bed every dang day,” UTSA coach Jeff Traylor told the Herald-Leader when asked about his time living with Stein. “I don’t know if he did that trying to impress me or he’s actually that clean of a person, but he made his bed every day.
“I always would check on the way to work. Always made up.”
Traylor and Stein first met in 2015 as members of Charlie Strong’s Texas coaching staff.
Stein was a quality control coach just three years removed from his playing career at Louisville. Traylor was the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.
With Traylor’s family staying in Gilmer, Texas — where he had served as a high school coach, for another year — Traylor decided to live in his cousin’s vacant house in Austin.
“Will was looking for a place to live,” Traylor said. “He was broke, so Will and I lived together for at least a year. We got really close. Every day was a great day. We just saw the game the same. We’re similar in our spirits. He’s like a son to me, honestly.”
The connection Stein forged with Traylor while living together is a key step in his path to eventually becoming the youngest head coach in the SEC.
It’s a path that started when Stein, who grew up a UK fan as the son of a former Wildcat football player, was not offered the chance to play at his parents’ alma mater. Instead, he walked on at Louisville. After the Cardinals fired head coach Steve Kragthrope, Stein played for Strong, who put him on scholarship and eventually awarded him the starting quarterback job.
Stein started his coaching career working for Strong as a graduate assistant at Louisville. He later followed Strong to Texas, where he met Traylor.
“I really am a product of great coaches in my life,” Stein said.
After two seasons at Texas, Stein found his career at a crossroads. He had stayed in Austin to work for Tom Herman as a quality control coach after Strong was fired, but he felt ready to prove himself in a larger role. He was a candidate for FCS coaching positions but wanted to prove himself as a play-caller.
So Traylor called Lake Travis High School coach Hank Carter to recommend Stein for the open offensive coordinator position there.
“After a short time with him I knew that once he went back to college, he’d be a college head coach one day,” Carter said. “I felt like he had all the ingredients needed to be successful at that level, having coached there already, having played there at a high level. And then just getting to know him as a person and seeing how competitive and smart he is, I just thought it’d be a matter of time if he was in the right situation.”
Stein spent two seasons at Lake Travis, where he coached future NFL Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson and future Texas and Purdue quarterback Hudson Card.
When Traylor was hired as UTSA head coach in December 2019, Stein was one of the first coaches he called.
“He didn’t ask me what his title was or how much money he was making,” Traylor said. “He was just coming. That’s just Will. I call him Will ‘Sunshine’ Stein.”
Stein’s first role at UTSA was passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. When offensive coordinator Barry Lunney left for Illinois, Traylor promoted Stein, giving him play-calling responsibilities.
Stein’s 2022 UTSA offense ranked 12th nationally in yards per game (474) and 14th in points per game (36.8). That performance earned him the offensive coordinator job on Dan Lanning’s inaugural Oregon staff.
In three seasons at Oregon, Stein’s offenses continued to put up video-game-like numbers, and he proved himself as a strong developer of quarterback talent.
Quarterback Bo Nix developed into a first-round NFL draft pick as a fifth-year senior in his one season playing for Stein. Stein’s second Oregon QB, Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel, posted his best college season as a sixth-year senior, finishing third in Heisman Trophy voting before being drafted in the third round. This season, Stein coached UCLA transfer Dante Moore to all-Big Ten honors. The Athletic projected Moore as the No. 2 overall pick in its most recent 2026 NFL mock draft.
“Dan Lanning and my training with him has been a phenomenal resource for me to be prepared for this job and for what’s to come,” Stein said. “The only way to win is to recruit. You have to sign great players. Great players, they are what make the game fun. They are what make us win.”
It is the lessons learned from coaches like Strong, Traylor and Lanning that make Stein confident he can thrive as a 36-year-old, first-team head coach at Kentucky.
His mentors have little doubt about Stein’s chances of finding success in Lexington either.
“He’s always — in a good way — had the 5-foot-10 quarterback syndrome,” Traylor said. “He’s been told he’s too short his whole life. He’s been told he’s too this his whole life. … It’s not like Will’s angry about that. Will uses that as a positive, and it’s more of a challenge for himself. It’s not like him against the world. It’s just him versus Will.
“He’s a very, very unique human being. I really think he’s a savant. I know that’s a strong word, but his heart is as big as his brain, and that’s rare. Very few people can be as smart as Will and love people the way Will loves them.”
Carter was quickly impressed by Stein’s willingness to take risks and build relationships as a first-time high school coach.
Whether it was taking the microphone at a team karaoke event or challenging his players to a throwing competition on the practice field, Stein made it easy for players to relate to him.
“I knew that kids would gravitate to him and that coaches and parents would feel at ease with him,” Carter said. “It would be easy for him to communicate at a high level and to get people on the same page with him.”
In his second day on the job at Kentucky, Stein signed one of Carter’s current players, edge rusher Ben Duncum, who had committed to Mark Stoops. His connections to Strong, Traylor and Lanning will be key in building out his first Kentucky staff.
Watching Stein’s first days at Kentucky has already brought a sense of pride for Traylor. If Stein leaves the type of impact on UK that he left on his former roommate and boss, the Wildcats are sure to benefit.
“Saying goodbye to him when he went to work for Dan (at Oregon), it’s one of the happiest/saddest days of my life,” Traylor said. “We both cried like babies, man. He had to take that job. It was a sad day for me.
“It’s like when your children move out of the house. You’re happy that they’re on their own, but, man, I sure miss that sucker. I love him.”