Will Stein says he’s just ‘as psychotic as Big Blue Nation’ before Year 1 at Kentucky: ‘I am one of them’
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Will Stein isn’t just a really confident head coach as he enters his first season at Kentucky.
He’s a really cool character, and Stein wanted Big Blue Nation to know this during an interview earlier this week with CBS Sports. First, Stein held court on Monday in Tampa as SEC Media Days kicked off, and he declared once and for all that a school like Kentucky can win big in football … “because of me.”
If that forceful statement wasn’t enough to win Big Blue Nation over in the weeks before Stein starts his tenure in Lexington, there was that CBS Sports interview during which Stein reached out and said to his new fan base … hey, I’m one of you.
The guy who spent the previous 3 seasons running the high-powered offense at Oregon has hit the ground running at Kentucky, and this interview away from the Media Days podium was a chance for Stein to further ingratiate himself with Wildcat fans. It was a chance for Stein to explain again that his family roots are at UK, so it’s like he’s coming home.
“I am (Big Blue Nation). I grew up 18 years of my life as an absolute diehard Kentucky fan,” Stein said. “My dad (Matt Stein) played (football) at UK, my mom went there, both graduates of UK. I end up going to Louisville, didn’t get my opportunity at Kentucky, but it all comes full circle.”
Sure, Stein played quarterback at the rival school, Louisville, from 2008-12, but the 36-year-old now finds himself back to where his heart beat fast during all Kentucky sporting events.
“I do consider myself as psychotic as Big Blue Nation, because I am one of them,” Will Stein said. “I am one of those kids who cried when we didn’t win and who rushed the field when we did.”
Now, Stein hopes to produce a few rush-the-field moments in the coming seasons as Kentucky head coach, and his journey back in the Bluegrass State begins in just a matter of weeks.
While Stein tries to make a grand first impression in Lexington, he’ll also be trying to make Kentucky relevant in the SEC as soon as possible. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about which SEC teams have the best odds to capture the conference crown in December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
