Will Stein’s supersized UK staff reflects changes in college football landscape
As Will Stein rounds out his inaugural Kentucky football coaching staff, a series of hires during Christmas week have offered a clear message.
Wildcat fans need to change the way they think about football assistant coaches.
UK has confirmed the hires of Joe Sloan (offensive coordinator), Jay Bateman (defensive coordinator), Cutter Leftwich (offensive line), Josh Christian-Young (safeties), Joe Price (wide receivers) and Anwar Stewart (defensive line). While not yet official, the hires of Tony Washington (edge rushers), Kolby Smith (running backs) and Allen Brown (cornerbacks) were reported by multiple outlets before the holiday.
Those hires would fill nine of the 10 traditional assistant coach positions on staff, but Stein has already tabbed a number of coaches to help in other roles.
Former Lexington Catholic star and UTSA offensive coordinator Justin Burke will serve as an additional offensive assistant. Former Coastal Carolina offensive line coach Derek Warehime announced his own hire by changing his X bio to reflect his title as Kentucky run game coordinator. ESPN reported Sunday that Oregon analyst Parker Fleming, who previously spent three seasons as special teams coordinator at Ohio State, would coach special teams and inside receivers at Kentucky.
Former Texas A&M defensive analyst James Gibson has apparently followed Bateman to Lexington. He lists himself as a UK defensive backs coach on his X bio. Former Texas A&M graduate assistant Trey Odom lists himself as UK’s assistant defensive backs coach on his X bio. Other young coaches are expected to follow in similar support roles.
But how is Stein hiring so many coaches when staffs include only 10 so-called full-time assistants? Because that term now has little meaning thanks to a 2024 rule change from the NCAA.
In June 2024 the NCAA removed its limit on how many coaches could provide “technical and tactical instruction” to players. Previously, only the 10 full-time assistants, sometimes known as on-field assistants, could coach players in practice or games. All other support staff members were technically limited to game-planning and other behind-the-scenes work away from players.
With many (or most) programs believed to be ignoring those restrictions anyway, the NCAA moved to only limit the number of coaches who could participate in off-campus recruiting activities.
Now, 11 coaches, one of whom has to be the head coach, can travel off campus on recruiting visits, but any of the other staff members can provide instruction in practice and games and help recruit players during visits to campus. The term “off-field assistant” is no longer accurate to describe any coaching assistant.
“It’s invaluable to us,” former UK defensive coordinator Brad White said of the benefit of extra coaches providing practice instruction after the rule change in 2024. “Like tangible is not a strong enough word. You can absolutely feel the difference.”
Former UK coach Mark Stoops and his staff benefitted from the rule change and began to assign new responsibilities to coaches previously known as analysts or quality control coaches after the rule change, but since most of those roles were filled by coaches already on staff the changes attracted little attention. Stoops did add former Charlotte head coach and Wake Forest defensive coordinator Brad Lambert as nickel backs coach and former Mississippi State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay as an analyst before the 2025 season.
Stein appears to be following the model used by his previous employer, Oregon, to make the most of those roles.
Oregon listed 11 coaches as offensive or defensive analysts this season but also has non-recruiting coaches working under the titles of edges coach, cornerbacks coach, assistant offensive line coach and assistant quarterbacks coach. In addition to his role as assistant offensive line coach, Leftwich was the run game coordinator for Oregon this season.
Considering only two of the 10 recruiting assistants will be 50 or older next season, Kentucky seems likely to spend less on the salaries for those positions than it did in 2024 when Stoops’ 10 primary assistants combined to make $7.39 million. Those savings can be spread out among the non-recruiting assistants to fill those positions with coaches whose resumes suggest they would be overqualified for the previous quality control positions.
The philosophy is simple, according to one source: everyone coaches, everyone recruits, everyone gets paid.
Former Kentucky player and assistant coach Jon Sumrall is following the same strategy to fill his staff at Florida, where he has already reportedly hired 13 assistants with coordinator or position coach titles.
Stein’s Kentucky staff also includes a general manager (Pat Biondo) and assistant general manager (Pete Nochta) to spearhead revenue sharing and NIL negotiations for both new recruits and current players. Eddie Gran, whose last UK title was special assistant to the head coach, was the closest member of Stoops staff to those roles, even though director of recruiting Chase Heuke also carried the general manager title.
Hiring so many staffers could be particularly important in the coming weeks if Oregon stays alive in the playoff, keeping Stein and Leftwich partially occupied with duties there. The transfer portal opens Friday, so Kentucky will need as many coaches as possible in Lexington to host prospective additions for visits before the spring semester starts.
“To me the best trait of a college football coach now is adaptability,” Stein said at his introductory news conference. “We got to adapt. If you all are still saying, ‘I wish it was like the old days,’ it ain’t the olden days. It’s not. Get that out of your mind. Let’s push forward. Let’s move forward in this process.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM.