In a time of despair for much of the Big Blue Nation, there have been few pieces of positive news, the largest being the return of Liam Coen as Kentucky football’s offensive coordinator.
On Thursday, Coen reintroduced himself to the Kentucky media after a year with the Los Angeles Rams. Visibly excited, Coen talking about this coming season, how he has grown as a coach, and much more. Take a look at what he had to say!
On assessing the current roster and looking ahead to this coming season.
“I was able to watch from afar a little bit this year and when they were on TV. Over the last few days, I’ve been really watching the game films. Excited about some of the young talent. Excited about some of the guys that are deciding to come back, Brendan Bates, [Kenneth] Horsey, and some of those guys that are veterans.
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Those are all things that are nice to be able to have maybe a younger group, new faces, that you can truly look at and evaluate. Whereas you do know you have some of these guys that are coming back, that can help ‘blend’ if you will, teaching and preaching the standard and what we’re trying to accomplish.”
How are you different?
“It’s a good question, I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit. We had some really unfortunate things personnel-wise, schematically things this past year it was not our prototypical year on offense… At the end of the day, it truly is about the players. Having to pivot and adjust to the type of players that we had, they weren’t our starters they didn’t know all of our offensive scheme… Was it always successful? No. Was the end result always what we were looking for? No. It was about the process…
At the end of the day, that’s really all you can hope for in terms of trying to create an environment and a standard in which guys came to practice and meetings every single day with the right enthusiasm, right mindset. Because the culture is strong. Because everything we try to do on a week-to-week basis was about leading confidence. We can we try to give these guys our best effort as coaches each week because we knew we were going to get their best effort on Sundays.”
On QB Devin Leary
“I know the type of kid that he is. He can throw the football very naturally different than Will [Levis]. Each season, each offense. it’s always going to be tweaked a little bit… The quarterback does depend on a lot of the things that you’re going to do schematically. I do believe that this guy can throw the football as good as anybody in the country.
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He wanted to come to Kentucky and obviously to win football games and have an opportunity to win an SEC Championship. Also, to be developed, to be developed into a future NFL quarterback.
A lot of this is going to be about Devin and what he’s comfortable with. It’s his last year of football. I’d be crazy to walk in there and say, ‘this is what you’re doing, and this is how you’re doing it’. I do believe it’s going to be a collaboration. Some of the things that he was successful with in his past, but also some of the things that we know we need to do in order to operate in the SEC.”
On Will Levis
“I think his best football is still ahead of him. I truly believe that he will have a long and successful NFL career. The guy has played through multiple different coordinators in multiple different years. Obviously battled through a ton of injuries. This guy is going to wow them in every shape, form, and fashion.
I mean he’s extremely talented throwing the football. You get him in a room. you get around him, you can feel his confidence. He’ll be able to speak the language and he’ll be able to come into a locker room and get along with the guys. Really excited about Will’s future.”
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On the O-Line and getting back on track after struggling in 2022.
“That’s the number one priority. When we get there, diving into that position group, personnel-wise, schematically, fundamentally, technique, attitude, demeanor. All that needs to get dove into really quickly.
I do rememberthe first time that I came, that was kind of the unit that I never really worried about. I never really worried about if they were going to come to play. I never worried about third and one, not getting a first down. It was never something that crossed my mind when I got there and we had experience, it was different. We had three players on that offensive line that went on to play in the National Football League.
It’s a room, it’s a unit that we need to address and address quickly. You know really the offensive line, if you think about it, that’s more than a third of your unit on a play-to-play basis. If those five are not on the same page, don’t have the right mentality, or aren’t you know doing what they’re supposed to do, it’s really hard to have success as an offense no matter who’s around them.”
On college coaching compared to the NFL.
“[In college] you start to miss the impact that you might have on these guys’ lives. Coming in ‘hey coach, having an issue at home, can we talk?’ ‘Hey coach, my girlfriend dumped me, I need some advice’.
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Those are conversations that I kind of missed. I missed helping when it was a little bit more than football. We missed as a family, having players over for dinner and having the guys around. I have a one-year-old son now that I am excited for him to be around the football facility, and be around our players, to be impacted by them. That’s truly what we missed.”
On his return to Lexington.
“I just want to kind of go somewhere make a real impact. Plant some roots a little bit, be somewhere for a few years you feel really good about. My family, the situation. My dad didn’t come out to California all that much. To have him around you know around me personally, I know is good for me in my life and to be around my son.
Just to be closer to people that care about you, that’s important for your day-to-day growth and health, and I’m excited about that. I’m excited about being back in Lexington, a place that I walked around town and only got support… I’m not in a rush to go anywhere. I want to go try to make an impact and be around somewhere for a little while.”
On recruiting high school quarterbacks, or keep looking in the transfer portal
“I think eventually you want to try to do that, but I mean, depending on how Devin and this thing goes. I’m not sure that we’d be having this discussion if will Levis wasn’t our starting quarterback. If I would have just gone with a high school kid, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
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Yeah, I think eventually you’d like to be able to get somebody that you can start for a few years, but with the way that this thing’s going with the portal, especially at the quarterback position. How many times is a guy just gonna sit and buy his time?… Something like that, I just don’t know how realistic that is in the landscape of college football anymore
You got to believe that if you don’t win the job for your first two years, a lot of these guys are probably going to take off. That’s to each their own. I don’t think that you need to force it.
If you look at the way that these things are working out. If you do your job and you do a nice job recruiting and they’re not pleased with the situation, they’re gonna leave. I don’t really feel like you have to fix it immediately. Do I believe that that’s something we’re gonna you know attend to? Absolutely do.”
On his approach to the RB room, C-Rod no longer there.
“Maybe a little bit more by committee. I haven’t been able to truly evaluate that room as much as I would like to. I think the spring sometimes is a really good time to just really let these guys go out and kind of roll the ball out and let them go and see who’s going to take it over. C-Rod’s not walking back in.
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Gonna roll the football out and whoever can run and execute, gain yards, break tackles, and be the guy in that room, that’s who it’s going to. If it has to be a little bit more by committee, that’s something that we’ll have to do as well. I’m excited about some of the guys in that room but somebody needs to emerge and take it over.
Definitely going to miss handing the football off [to Chris Rodriguez) and knowing we’re gonna gain four yards. That was not scheme, that was him a lot of the times”
A new era for Kentucky Football is underway, as Wildcats head coach Will Stein looks to make a mark in the SEC during the 2026 season. It’s safe to say that things are looking promising when it comes to the recruiting side of things, but Kentucky’s annual spring game would be his chance to show off what he’s really been cooking before the dark skies eventually ruined it all.
For those who weren’t able to attend, this was a matchup between the Blue Team (offense only) and the White Team (defense only), where extra points would be received from offensive conversions, defensive turnovers, and defensive three-and-outs.
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The first half was mostly the White Team’s game, where their defensive efforts would keep them in the lead for most of the first and (shortened) second quarter. For Team Blue, a recieving touchdown from Martels Carter Jr. and an easy end-zone scramble from Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey would keep them in check.
With all of the scoring oppertunities at hand, the second half would also remain relatively neck-and-neck until God brought the rain to Kroger Field and shut the game down halfway through the third quarter.
Quarterback Carr Shane would drop a deep ball to Kenny Darby to secure a 23-18 win for the Blue Team before the whole group of Wildcats bolted to the locker room.
Despite the weather notice that alerted Lexington the day before, Big Blue Nation showed out, and Will Stein called that “the win of the day” coming into the press conference. He spoke about becoming emotional coming out of the tunnel to the Cats’ fight song, saying “he’s never experienced something like that” when coming to play a cut-short spring game.
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Kentucky will start their season at home vs. Youngstown State on Saturday, September 5, but until then, make sure to follow KY Insider on socials for updates throughout the offseason.
University of Kentucky Athletics has renewed and expanded its long-term partnership with Fanatics, extending the agreement through 2038.
Fanatics Licensing Management, which has served as the University’s trademark licensing representative for more than a decade, will continue to oversee the core of the school’s merchandising, including the operation of the UK Team Shop and distribution of licensed apparel through major retailers such as Kroger, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Fanatics will continue to operate the core of Kentucky’s merchandising business, operating the UK Team Shop and serving as the primary apparel licensee partner, distributing team merchandise across major retailers, including Kroger, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, among others.
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The more notable shift, however, comes in the NIL space.
As part of the expanded agreement, in a first-of-its-kind agreement, Fanatics is making a “significant” commitment to NIL initiatives for select athletes across all programs and teams, with more high-major schools to follow.
Beginning this spring, Fanatics will roll out a two-pronged marketing strategy for select student-athletes.
UK student-athletes will have the opportunity to launch and curate their own personalized storefronts with team gear they select, fostering a connection with fans who want to support both the individual athlete and the program. In addition, through a more traditional marketing approach, student-athletes will be commissioned to promote product collections across digital e-commerce platforms and brick-and-mortar retail partners.
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“NIL in its truest form”, one representative told Kentucky Insider. “Driving retail sales so student-athletes can benefit.”
It goes without saying that this is an opt-in agreement, allowing student-athletes to still pursue NIL deals with third-party merchandisers — such as local brand Kentucky Branded — if they choose. However, a partnership with Fanatics gives athletes the ability to pair their personal brand with official Kentucky branding, which can significantly increase sales potential, and is an option many third-party merchandisers avoid due to the cost of UK marks.
As Kentucky looks to recruit the top athletes, this is also a way to provide above the cap NIL dollars, money exceeding the school’s annual revenue-sharing cap, to build NIL competitive compensation packages. While specific percentage splits are not available, it will be a beneficial figure for the athletes.
“We’re not going to enter into deals that are going to prevent us from being competitive and competing for players on the open market,” a spokesperson said.
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On one hand, an athlete’s NIL compensation package can include a projected range of money, incentivized by performance and connection to the fanbase. On the other hand, or in addition to, there can be a set amount of compensation for product promotion.
Given the turbulent landscape of collegiate athletics, it’s important to note that the long-term deal is also designed with flexibility in mind. No numbers are fixed, meaning that figures and percentages will change and incentivize growth.
Furthermore, a lot of this strategy is built post-House settlement, which requires NIL deals to be legitimate business transactions rather than pay-for-play, with the NCAA auditing giant Deloitte hired to vet deals. To be able to lean into an industry leader like Fanatics in that regard is an advantage for the University.
How do we get the best players to want to play for our teams?
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That is a question Kentucky Athletics continuously asks itself when evaluating, and that served as a basis for this extended partnership. Extending an already strong relationship, UK has added a sustainable way to deliver legitimate NIL compensation above revenue-sharing limits for years to come, all through one of the largest and most established merchandisers in sports.
After leaving the Wildcats in the offseason via the transfer portal, wide receiver Hardley Gilmore IV has officially returned to Kentucky and practiced with the team on Tuesday, March 3, according to multiple reports.
Gilmore originally committed to the rival Louisville Cardinals, but in true Vince Marrow fashion, he whiffed on the Wildcat transfer, leading the wideout to flip his commitment to the Baylor Bears on Jan. 12.
After officially signing with Baylor, it seemed like that was that. Several of Gilmore’s teammates from the 2024-25 season had transferred out, likely because of the multiple coaching changes. Now, with a true sign of what college sports has come to, the “former” Wildcat is back in Lexington.
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Notably, this isn’t the first time that Gilmore changed his mind on where he would continue his football career, transferring to Nebraska in the 2024 offseason and returning back to the Wildcats in the spring of 2025.
He caught 28 balls, raking in 313 yards and a singular touchdown last season and will have two years of eligibility left to his name.
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