How Will Stein plans to continue to honor the legacy of John Schlarman at Kentucky
Will Stein may have been hired as Kentucky football’s coach in large part due to his proven track record leading explosive offenses, but he has no plans to abandon one of the key identities of the Mark Stoops era.
“I know we love throwing the ball all over the yard — we’ll do whatever it takes to win each game — but when we’ve been at our best in this offense we’ve been able to run the football,” Stein told the Herald-Leader in a one-on-one interview. “That was at UTSA, that was at Oregon, that was at freaking Lake Travis High School in Texas. … Running the ball matters. And so when you can do that and have a physical mindset up front, I think it just sets the pace for the entire team, the entire year. To me, it’s just winning football.
“Look at the Seattle Seahawks. They won the Super Bowl. Wasn’t (quarterback) Sam Darnold doing it. They ran the ball, and they stopped the run. So, it’s going to be that mindset forever around here. I mean, obviously, the Big Blue Wall is pretty iconic here in Kentucky.”
The Big Blue Wall was the moniker honoring the offensive line during the heights of the Mark Stoops era.
When Kentucky was at its best under Stoops, a physical offensive line paved the way for a power rushing game. That offensive identity paired with a strong defense to help Kentucky win close, often-low-scoring games.
Stoops, former offensive coordinator Eddie Gran and beloved offensive line coach John Schlarman built that identity during the breakout 2016 season that launched a stretch of eight straight bowl appearances. Eventually, UK’s offense became too one-dimensional without a consistent passing attack.
Stoops successfully addressed that issue by hiring future Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen as offensive coordinator for the 2021 season, but Kentucky was unable to build on the momentum of 10 wins and a Citrus Bowl victory that year when Coen returned to the NFL. Even when Coen returned to Lexington for the 2023 season, the offense struggled for long stretches.
Kentucky and Stoops appeared to have found some success midway through the 2025 season when redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley helped spark a three-game winning streak with an offense built around a short, quick passing attack, but opponents eventually countered. The Wildcats scored just 17 points in back-to-back blowout losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville to end the season and Stoops’ 13-season tenure as head coach.
“I was very specifically trying to find ways to put points on the board,” UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart said after hiring Stein to replace Stoops. “...It’s really hard to win games in our league scoring 17-21 points a game. We’ve got to find a way to be where we’re lighting up the scoreboard.”
With Stein calling plays, Oregon ranked 10th nationally in points per game (36.9) and 16th in total yards per game (452.2) in 2025. The Ducks ranked in the top 25 nationally in both categories in all three seasons with Stein as offensive coordinator. In 2023, Stein’s first year on the job, Oregon ranked second in both categories.
Stein is most known for his quarterback coaching, helping develop Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore into hyped NFL draft prospects, but his offenses were far from the traditional “Air Raid” where the rushing attack is an afterthought.
Oregon ranked 30th or better in rushing yards per game in each of Stein’s three seasons as offensive coordinator. Last season, the Ducks ranked 20th at 198.6 yards per game.
Despite Stoops’ reputation for a run-first attack, Kentucky ranked in the top 30 in rushing yards per game just twice in his tenure (2016 and 2019). One of those seasons (2019) was skewed because Kentucky moved wide receiver Lynn Bowden to quarterback after a rash of injuries at the position.
“If you want to win in November, you got to have an O-line and D-line,” Stein said. “If you want to win in this league, you have to, there’s no question about it. At the end of the day, it’s still about running the football and stopping the run. It just is.”
That direction sounds like the philosophy Stoops promoted throughout his tenure at Kentucky. The difference is Stein’s offense has been able to unleash a successful rushing game with a dynamic passing attack, too.
But Stein showed how important he thinks the offensive line and rushing attack is when he made the position a top priority in the transfer portal.
Unlike a year ago, when Stoops and his staff targeted offensive linemen from smaller programs in rebuilding the unit, Stein and company signed three presumed starters (Lance Heard, Coleton Price and Tegra Tshabola) with multiple years of starting experience at power conference programs. Kentucky also signed two more linemen who served backup roles at Alabama and Tennessee last season to compete for starting jobs. Only one of the six transfer linemen signed in January came from a group of five conference program.
Offensive line will be the position with the least amount of continuity from the last season of the Stoops era to Stein’s first season on the job with five new starters. There will be only one scholarship lineman on the roster who has been in the program for more than two years.
That turnover might make it difficult to build on the legacy of the Big Blue Wall developed during Stoops’ tenure. Still, Stein continues to honor that legacy by teaching his players about Schlarman, who died after an extended battle with cancer during the 2020 season.
“Coach Schlarman’s picture is in our indoor (facility), and we want all of our guys to know who he is and what he stood for, being an alumni here, playing here, and being able to coach here,” Stein said. “It’s a pretty special name around this building.”