LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) — For three years, Will Stein has been one of the best chefs in college football.
Now he owns the restaurant. This is different.
At Oregon, Stein could spend his days worrying about quarterbacks and coverages, protections and play calls and whether the safety was creeping toward the line of scrimmage.
At Kentucky, he has to worry about everything. How much everything?
Back in July, Stein was talking about Kentucky's promotional schedule. He wanted the themes for home games announced well before the season so fans would have time to prepare. No detail is too small.
"I definitely put a lot into it, because they matter, and our fans matter," Stein said.
Welcome to being a head coach.
Everybody knows Stein can coach offense. His first Oregon offense in 2023 led the nation in passing and finished second nationally in scoring and total offense. Last season, despite injuries, the Ducks still finished No. 10 nationally in scoring.
Kentucky didn't hire Stein to find out whether he could call plays. It hired him to find out whether he could run the place. And Saturday against Youngstown State, the doors open.
Stein didn't have much time to get ready.
He was hired in early December while Oregon was still chasing a national championship, leaving him to simultaneously finish one job and begin another. The process, he said, was "pretty chaotic." He was trying to build for Kentucky's future while, as he put it, "trying to win right now."
He did find time to go shopping. On his list:
Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey, a former four-star recruit who spent three years waiting for his opportunity in South Bend.
Texas running back C.J. Baxter, once the No. 1 running back recruit in America. Oklahoma running back Jo'Vante Barnes, who rushed for 1,284 yards in four seasons there.
And then came the offensive line. Lance Heard from LSU. Coleton Price from Baylor. Tegra Tshabola from Ohio State. Olaus Alinen from Alabama — joining returning starter Malachi Wood up front.
The résumés are impressive. The price tags weren't small. The ambition isn't difficult to see.
The expectations are another matter.
Kentucky was picked to finish 14th in the 16-team Southeastern Conference in a vote of league media. Las Vegas set its over-under at 4.5 victories. Seven teams on its schedule, ranked the nation's fourth-toughest in the preseason, begin the season in the AP Top 25.
Stein has opened an expensive new restaurant in the toughest dining district in town, where the competition may not have Michelin stars, but it has plenty of five-star recruits.
What this team is
New. That's great for marketing. Kentucky is about to find out how it works for football. It returns only two starters on offense — tight end Willie Rodriguez, who started seven games a year ago, and offensive lineman Malachi Wood.
Minchey has pedigree without production. He attempted only 29 passes in three seasons at Notre Dame.
Baxter may have as much upside as any player on the roster, but injuries have interrupted his career and much of his preseason. The Wildcats have talent at wide receiver, but even Stein has acknowledged they don't have much proven production there.
What Kentucky does have is an offensive line that should look like it belongs in the SEC from the moment it takes the field.
And it has Willie Rodriguez.
The former Covington Catholic standout might be Kentucky's best offensive player. Stein has called him "a hell of a football player" and has a history of making tight ends significant pieces of his offense.
Defensively, the transition isn't quite as dramatic.
Five starters return, led by linebacker Grant Godfrey, who came into his own last season and is expected to quarterback the defense. Safety Ty Bryant's decision to remain in Lexington was a significant win for Stein and his staff.
Jay Bateman, who came from Texas A&M to coordinate the defense, inherits some of the toughness and personnel emphasis that defined Mark Stoops' program, while adding his own pieces and his own system.
That side of the ball doesn't need to carry Kentucky the way Stoops' better defenses sometimes did.
But it can't become an afterthought, either.
Why it can work
Because Kentucky should be able to block people. That's a pretty good place to start in the SEC.
If the offensive line is as good as it looks on paper, Minchey shouldn't have to become Bo Nix in September. Baxter and Barnes shouldn't have to manufacture yards on their own. And Stein shouldn't have to reach too deeply into his playbook just to keep the offense functioning.
In fact, some of Stein's offensive philosophy is considerably less glamorous than his reputation.
Kenny Minchey warms up before the annual Kentucky Spring Game in Kroger Field.
Take the easy money. That's what he keeps telling Minchey.
"You can't go broke taking a profit," Stein said.
If the defense gives Kentucky six yards, take six yards. First downs become touchdowns. Second-and-4 is better than third-and-9. Keep the defense fresh. Don't give the football away.
"But the key I think for all young quarterbacks is to know that more quarterbacks on Saturdays lose the game for their team than they do to win it," Stein said. His job with Minchey is to make sure Kentucky's quarterback isn't one of them. But there's a balance.
After Kentucky's second major scrimmage, Stein said Minchey's best week of camp came when he became more aggressive, pushing the football downfield, throwing into tighter windows and trusting his anticipation. The quarterback Kentucky needs may be somewhere between taking the easy money and knowing when it's time to bet on your ability.
Baxter represents another significant piece of Kentucky's upside. Before injuries derailed his time at Texas, he was one of the most coveted running backs in the country. If he's healthy enough to become that player again, Kentucky suddenly has the kind of back who can change an offense.
Rodriguez could do the same at tight end. And there is one other reason Kentucky believes this can work.
Will Stein.
Asked this summer why Kentucky fans should believe he can win in Lexington, Stein supplied perhaps the shortest coaching manifesto in the SEC.
"Because of me."
Kentucky didn't hire a 36-year-old first-time head coach because it was looking for caution.
What could go wrong
Stein said during the preseason that Kentucky looked like a legitimate SEC roster "when at full strength." Those last four words are doing a lot of work.
Stein said during the preseason that when the Wildcats were at full strength, he could see the size and talent of a legitimate SEC roster.
The problem is that SEC teams rarely remain at full strength.
Baxter spent part of camp working his way back. Tshabola had physical issues. Wide receiver Nick Anderson has been working his way back, too. Stein recently said those players were trending in the right direction, with Baxter and Tshabola back to full work.
But there's a difference between assembling a starting lineup through the transfer portal and building SEC depth.
Stein had enough time to do the first.
Whether he had enough time to do the second is one of the biggest questions surrounding this team.
That's especially true on defense, where returning players will be learning Bateman's system while trying to replace some of the experience Kentucky lost from the Stoops era.
And Kentucky doesn't have much time to figure any of this out. Youngstown State comes to Kroger Field for Stein's debut. Then No. 13 Alabama. Then a trip to No. 8 Texas A&M.
Opening night, then straight into the dinner rush.
A 1-2 start wouldn't necessarily mean Kentucky isn't improving. It wouldn't even be particularly surprising.
But it would leave a first-year coach trying to build belief while already chasing wins.
What would a good season look like?
Six wins. A bowl game. You couldn't print enough "Stein Time" T-shirts in the Bluegrass.
It's doable. But don't confuse doable with easy.
There is one small kindness buried in the schedule. The three highest-ranked SEC teams in the preseason — Ole Miss, Texas and Georgia — aren't on it.
That's about where the kindness ends.
After the early Alabama-Texas A&M gauntlet, the schedule eventually becomes more manageable. It does not become easy. The closing stretch includes Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri and Louisville. Most begin the season ranked, and Kentucky could very well be an underdog in every one of those games.
For Kentucky to get to six wins, it won't be enough to beat the teams it's supposed to beat. At some point, Stein's first team is going to have to beat somebody it isn't supposed to beat.
Do that once or twice, get to a bowl game, and his first season is a success.
Eric's Pick: 5-7 (3-6 SEC)
I like what Stein has assembled more than I like the number of games Kentucky is going to win.
There's too much new, too little proven depth and too many good teams on the other sideline for me to predict a bowl game. But there is enough talent here to make 5-7 feel very different from the 5-7 Kentucky just experienced.
The most important thing Kentucky can discover this season isn't whether Stein can make the Wildcats good immediately.
It's whether this looks like the beginning of something that will be.
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