LEXINGTON, Ky. — There was a moment when Will Stein appeared to think twice about whether to deliver the viral soundbite in his first SEC Media Days appearance.
Stein had opened his stint at the podium of the main media room with a passionate explanation of why he embarked on the challenge of building Kentucky football into a consistent winner, but toward the end of his news conference he was offered a reminder of the team’s historic struggles.
“Why do you think you can win big here?” he was asked.
Stein paused and grimaced.
“This is going to sound like really …” he said as his words drifted off.
Filling in the blank of that sentence is not hard.
Cocky? Arrogant?
Stein has heard both descriptions plenty of times since being hired at Kentucky in December. He knew what the perception of his answer would be.
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But he pushed on anyway.
“I think because of me, to be honest,” he said. “I think ‘cause of me. I think I know what it takes. I have seen it at the highest levels. I know what it takes to recruit at this level.
“You just got to believe, man. You just got to put the ball down and play. There’s really nothing else to be said.”
Kentucky fans on social media were quick to embrace Stein’s latest round of bravado. A national audience that had not seen similar comments since December took notice during an event where UK is usually an afterthought.
But Stein’s confidence here is nothing new. It’s been on full display since the day he was introduced as Kentucky’s coach.
“He is a very confident guy, and we see that, we feed off of that,” senior safety Ty Bryant said. “All of us are confident as well. We believe what he says. We trust what he says.”
Just more than an hour before Stein’s viral moment, he walked into the JW Marriott in downtown Tampa surrounded by a hoard of communications staffers.
Greeted by a reporter with a congrats on making his first SEC Media Days appearance, Stein shrugged. The unofficial start to what will be his first season as a head coach did not seem to merit special note.
“I feel like I’ve been talking since I got here,” Stein said in an interview with local Kentucky reporters. “(Susan Lax) has got me on more radio shows, podcasts, interviews than I’ve ever even imagined.
“But it’s all promoting our players, our brand, Kentucky football, our state, our university, and anytime it’s about that, it’s all positive.”
Name a college football television show or podcast, and it’s likely Stein made an appearance on it sometime this spring or summer. By now, Kentucky fans have heard his thoughts on everything from classic music to cover-two defenses.
Talking season ends soon, though.
UK’s in-house media day is set for Aug. 3 as the team officially opens preseason practice. From there, Stein’s focus fully shifts on preparing for the Sept. 5 opener against Youngstown State and the daunting SEC schedule to follow.
“There’s going to be bumps in the road,” Stein said. “... I am prepared for tough moments and tough times. … I already do self-talk myself about, how can I stay neutral? When stuff is bad, I can stay as neutral as possible and be very diplomatic in my approach.”
Little about talking season has been diplomatic for Stein, though.
One of former UK coach Mark Stoops’ most-used lines in interviews over the last several years of his tenure was, “I don’t want to give you a headline.” His public relations strategy seemed to reflect that desire.
But Stein is a coach who does not seem to see value in presenting a different face in front of cameras than he does in front of recruits or current players.
“I just remember a lot of charisma, a lot of energy, a lot of smiles,” junior quarterback Kenny Minchey said of his first meetings with Stein as Kentucky pursued him in the transfer portal. “I just felt the confidence out of him. I could feel it over the phone, and then also when I met him too, it was just like ‘I want to play for that guy.’”
To hear Stein tell the story, the confidence is only natural.
He was a multiple-time state champion as a high school quarterback at Trinity. He won the starting quarterback job as a walk-on at Louisville. After he bet on himself by taking an assistant coaching job at Lake Travis High School in Texas, he proved himself as one of the best offensive minds in college football in subsequent stops at UTSA and Oregon.
“The more that you’re successful, the more that you think and you know you can do it again in the future,” Minchey said.
But Stein’s next challenge will be his most difficult yet.
Stoops led Kentucky to unprecedented success with two 10-win seasons and eight straight bowl games, but even if the 12-team playoff had existed then, Kentucky would have found itself on the outside in 2018 and 2021. Stoops’ success proved unsustainable in the transfer portal and NIL era, eventually leading UK to fire him at a cost of more than $37 million.
In most interviews Stein has done as Kentucky coach, Indiana’s national championship has come up at some point, with reporters asking if the Hoosiers give him confidence Kentucky can build a winner. That happened again Monday, and again Stein boiled down Indiana’s success to a simple concept: “When you have great players and you add a great culture and coaching staff and scheme, typically good results happen.”
Stein didn’t need Indiana’s win to prove to himself that he could win at a place like Kentucky.
Maybe the rigors of coaching a traditional SEC afterthought will eventually make him more guarded in his public comments, but his introduction to the SEC at large was a reminder he needs only to look at his own track record for evidence of what can happen moving forward.
“I know the players that we can get here,” he said. “I know we can recruit north, south and east. People come to Lexington and love it. The longer I live there, the more I am like, ‘Wow, this place is incredible.’ It’s got everything that you want. It’s great food, nightlife, community, university. It’s safe.
“... You have to go attack. You can’t sit back and wait. That’s one thing I refuse to do at Kentucky is to wait. … That’s why I’m excited. That’s why I believe. Or else I wouldn’t have taken the job.”
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