On Thursday, Dec.11, Kentucky announced its 2026 football schedule under first-year head coach Will Stein.

This will mark the first time the Wildcats will face nine SEC opponents in school history. In August, the SEC announced that each team will have a nine-game conference schedule.

Kroger Field will host seven opponents, three non-conference teams: Youngstown State, South Alabama, and Louisville. In addition to four SEC foes: Alabama, LSU, Vanderbilt and Florida. 

On the road, the Wildcats will travel solely for inner-conference opponents: Texas A&M, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Missouri.

In September, the SEC announced its annual opponents; Kentucky’s annual opponents are Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina. Subsequently, the Wildcats will alternate home and away with those assigned SEC teams for the next four seasons.

The SEC will reopen and reconsider annual opponents after the 2029 season.

Kentucky will kick off their regular season against Youngstown State for their second-ever matchup. For the first time in 13 seasons, the Wildcats sideline will not feature Mark Stoops, as Stein will make his head coaching debut.

Another notable bout includes the Wildcats traveling to Norman to face off against the Oklahoma Sooners. It will be the first time Kentucky will play the Sooners in SEC play. Furthermore, the Wildcats haven’t played there since 1980, when Oklahoma’s stadium was formerly known as Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Senior Day will take place on Nov. 28, as the Wildcats will host Missouri in their final home game of the season.

With stacked road games and top programs visiting Lexington, Big Blue Nation will get a taste of what the future of the program will look like.

The search for Kentucky’s next head coach was a brief one.

Within 24 hours after Mark Stoops was fired, Oregon’s offensive coordinator Will Stein was announced as the next head coach – a pairing that shares a history spanning several decades.

“It’s just been unbelievable, unbelievable the last 24-48 hours,” Stein said. “It’s something that a coach can only dream of, to get his first head coaching job, and to do it at a place like the University of Kentucky. It’s really truly a dream.”

Son of Kentucky alumni Debbie and Matt Stein, his father donned the blue and white for the Wildcats as a defensive lineman in the 1980s. Stein was born and raised in Kentucky as an avid Wildcats fan. 

“This place means a lot to me,” Stein said. “I’ve been coming to this place literally since I was born… I was in the stands (of Commonwealth Stadium), and it’s a really surreal moment to be standing in front of everybody in this building.”

The Louisville native attended Trinity High School, where he won three state titles as the team’s quarterback. After high school, Stein had hopes of playing college football, specifically for the Wildcats. 

However, the traditionally undersized 5-foot-10 quarterback didn’t receive an offer from Kentucky. In 2008, Stein made Louisville’s roster as a walk-on. That season he appeared in four games as a walk-on freshman. 

Eventually, Stein earned a scholarship.

“I went to the rivals, so four or five years of some bad blood, but that’s a competitor in me,” Stein said. “Out of high school, I would’ve loved having an opportunity to come here, but everything happens for a reason.”

After suffering a shoulder injury against Kentucky in 2011, Stein would be replaced by future NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The Cardinals would go on to defeat Kentucky 24-17.

Stein would make 25 appearances for Louisville from 2008 to 2012.

In 2013, Stein rejoined the team as a graduate assistant for the Cardinals, working with the quarterback room, beginning his coaching career. One year later, the former quarterback was elevated to quality control coach.

“I’m extremely thankful for my time at Louisville, I am,” Stein said. “I would lie if I said I wasn’t, and really because of the people, my coaches there, and they’re so proud of me.”

Following his time at Louisville, Stein moved to Texas, where he would spend the next eight years continuing his coaching career.

From 2015 to 2017, Stein was the quality control coach for the Texas Longhorns. To improve his play calling, Stein returned to high school football at Lake Travis, where he served as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for two years.

Afterward, Stein joined the University of Texas, San Antonio, coaching staff. In San Antonio, he coached various offensive positions. 

In 2023, Stein was hired as the offensive coordinator for the Oregon Ducks under head coach Dan Lanning. 

“I believe what I’ve done in the past three years at the University of Oregon has set me up to be successful immediately here in Kentucky,” Stein said.

At Oregon, Stein coached a myriad of future NFL talent with a high-powered style offense, namely quarterbacks Bo Nix and Dillion Gabriel, two Heisman Trophy finalists. The Ducks are currently 11-1 and pursuing a championship title as one of the top contenders for this year’s title.

It’s undeniable that Stein has an immense amount of experience coaching at various programs despite being 36-years-old. In addition to his experience as a quarterback from his playing career at Louisville.

“Success is not free,” Stein said. “Rent is due every damn day that we’re here, and we’re gonna work to get that done, to make Big Blue Nation proud, make our players proud, and do it the right way.”

For the first time in 13 years, Lexington will see a new head coach, and a first-time coach wearing the headset for the Wildcats. Stein’s trek back to blue has been an atypical one. Beginning next season, Stein has the opportunity of a lifetime to coach for his boyhood team.

A lot of change is coming to Kentucky football with new head coach Will Stein.

Stein, one of the best offensive minds in college football, will bring an offense-first approach that the program hasn’t seen in nearly two decades. He will also bring a change in the approach to NIL, bringing the first general manager in the program’s history.

That guy is set to be Oregon’s Director of Recruiting, Pat Biondo, who was seen with Stein as he arrived at the Lexington airport on Tuesday, and also later that same day, courtside at Rupp Arena.

Before Oregon, Biondo worked under Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M as a senior assistant in recruiting operations. Before working in football, Biondo spent nine seasons with the West Virginia Women’s basketball program, where he started as a video coordinator, rising to special assistant to the head coach, and then director of basketball operations

With college football becoming much more NFL-like due to NIL and the transfer portal, there has been a strong push for programs, especially those in the Big 10 and SEC, to hire general managers. Now, Kentucky is the latest school to join that group.

Also published on A Sea of Blue.