Despite changing the DNA of the Kentucky program into a hard-nosed, physical defensive team over his 13 season tenure leading the Wildcats, Kentucky decided to part ways with their longtime leader Mark Stoops in early December.
At the tail end of his tenure, Stoops was forced to defend his future leading the program, which always ended with him making it abundantly clear that he was not going to leave on his own.
His long tenure at Kentucky saw him take over one what many have long considered one of the toughest jobs at the Power Four level in college football, and built it into a program that was not an automatic win on the SEC schedule, leading them to a 10-3 season in 2018 with a top 12 finish in the final AP polls.
But after back-to-back seasons on no bowl games, Kentucky decided it was time to move on.
The decision makers wasted no time in nabbing one of the top offensive coordinators in all of college football, naming Will Stein the new head coach of the Wildcats.
A former Louisville quarterback under Charlie Strong, Stein's parents both attended UK with his dad starring at linebacker. After cutting his teeth as a play caller at Lake Travis HS (TX), Stein would go on to learn under Jeff Traylor for a few seasons before joining Dan Lanning's staff in Eugene where he has spent the past three seasons.
Stein plans to stay with the Ducks through their college football run. Keep track of how he's assembling his staff via this page.
OFFENSE
ROLE | COACH | PREVIOUS STOP |
| OC | Joe Sloan | LSU OC / QBs |
| WRs | Joe Price III | UTSA AHC / PGC / WRs |
| OL | Cutter Leftwich | Oregon Assistant OL / RGC |
| RBs | Kolby Smith | Arkansas RBs |
DEFENSE
ROLE | COACH | PREVIOUS STOP |
| DC | Jay Bateman | Texas A&M DC |
| Secondary | Josh Christian-Young | Houston Safeties |
| DEs / OLBs | Tony Washington Jr | Ohio State assistant DL |
| DL | Anwar Stewart | Kentucky DL |
| LBs | Chad Wilt | Michigan State Co-STC / rush ends |
SUPPORT STAFF
ROLE | PERSON (PREVIOUS ROLE) |
| HEAD S&C | Brandon Roberts (USF Assistant AD Sports Performance) |
| GENERAL MANAGER | Pat Biondo |
| Assistant GM | Pete Nochta (Louisville director of recruiting) |
| Director of player personnel | Courtney Love |
2024 STAFF
| HEAD COACH | Mark Stoops |
| OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR / QBs | Bush Hamdan |
| DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR / OLBs | Brad White |
| CO-DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR / DBs | Chris Collins |
| RUNNING BACKS / SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR | Jay Boulware |
| SAFETIES | Frank Buffano |
| OFFENSIVE LINE | Eric Wolford |
| TIGHT ENDS | Derek Shay |
| DEFENSIVE LINE | Anwar Stewart |
| INSIDE LINEBACKERS | Mike Stoops |
| WIDE RECEIVERS | L'Damian Washington |
| HEAD S&C | |
| General Manager / director of recruiting | Chase Heuke |
| Director of performance / head strength coach | Jack Ray |
| Director of performance | Corey edmond |
| Assistant OL | Greg Frey |
| Assistant ST | Jack Ray |
| S&C coach | Rafael Horton |
| Assistant S&C Coach | Tyler Malone |
| Senior offensive analyst / director of high school relations | Mark Perry |
| Offensive analyst | Kevin Barbay |
| QC - Offense | Josh Estes-Waugh |
| QC - Offense | Mike Hartline |
| Defensive analyst / OLBs | Nate Fuqua |
| Defensive analyst / nickels | Brad Lambert |
| Quality control | Joe Scola |
| Defensive GA | Yusuf Corker |
| Defensive GA | Jervontius "Bunchy" Stallings |
| Defensive off-field GA | Max Steurer |
| Special assistant to the head coach | Eddie Gran |
| Executive director of recruiting | Danielle Braswell |
| Director of operations | Josh Pruitt |
| Director of player development | Dean Hood |
| Director of applied sports science | Chris Morris |
| Assistant director of scouting and analytics | Stephen Gillette |
| Assistant director of recruiting - offense | Ty Williams |
| Assistant director of operations | Brinkley Berch |
| On campus recruiting assistant | Jocelyn Grimsley |
| Creative coordinator | Jacob Noger |
| Creative services assistant | Bailey Gallt |
| Director of football technology | Christian Fiero |
| Football video coordinator | Walt Hill |
| Recruiting assistant | Blake Micek |
| Recruiting assistant | Carson Hickman |
| Equipment manager | Tom Kalinowski |
| Director of equipment operations | Jon Denio |
| Assistant director of scouting | Matthew French |