Will Stein hasn’t exactly hidden what he’s trying to build at Kentucky. Since arriving in Lexington in December, the new head coach has held up Indiana as the template - even channeling his own Curt Cignetti-style confidence at SEC Media Days.
The reason is obvious enough. In Cignetti’s first season at Indiana, the Hoosiers made the College Football Playoff.
In his second, they won the whole thing, claiming the first national championship in program history. That kind of leap has become the new dream in the portal and NIL/rev-share era: a program that used to live in the cellar suddenly finding a fast track to the top.
Stein wants Kentucky to be next.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly sees why that idea isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. In a look at teams that could one day win their first national title, Connelly placed Kentucky at No. 15 among 20 contenders. The Wildcats are one of 35 Power Four programs without a championship, including six in the SEC, and Connelly’s ranking leaned on historical poll finishes, recent SP+ numbers, ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, and revenue data.
His case for Kentucky centered heavily on Stein.
“Like rival Louisville, Kentucky derives a level of revenue from basketball that few others could hope for and also boasts recent gridiron success. Mark Stoops couldn’t keep the good times rolling after 10-win seasons in 2018 and 2021, and last year’s team was UK’s worst in a decade. But the school grabbed former Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, and no new head coach in this cycle puts off more Potential Dan Lanning vibes.
“Stein immediately made some aggressive moves to upgrade the Wildcats’ line play, and his first Kentucky team will be big, physical and likely improved. We don’t know nearly enough about the Wildcats’ potential ceiling under Stein, but they have money and a young, hungry head coach. That’s often an exciting combination.”
Kentucky’s financial profile helps the argument. The school’s last relevant fiscal-year revenue on record was $159.1 million, which ranked No. 16 nationally, according to USA Today. Much of that comes from men’s basketball, and Connelly noted that with J Batt now in charge and the Champions Blue LLC model humming, Kentucky reportedly has “Scrooge McDuck” money to support its programs.
Among the 20 teams Connelly listed, only one brought in more reported revenue than Kentucky: Virginia, at $161.9 million. SMU and Vanderbilt were also included, but as private schools they do not have to report their figures.
At the top of Connelly’s list sits the school Stein just left behind. Oregon checks in at No. 1, which makes sense given the Ducks’ run to the title game in 2010 and 2014 and their trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season, where they lost to Indiana. Oregon is ranked No. 2 entering this year, a reminder of just how strong a program Stein walked away from to come back to the Bluegrass.
The rest of the top group includes Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Iowa and Missouri. Louisville lands at No.
6, South Carolina at No. 11, Vanderbilt at No. 16 and Arkansas at No.
- James Madison sneaks in at No.
For Kentucky, the bigger takeaway is simple: Stein’s first season in Lexington is still an unknown, but a respected national voice sees enough there to imagine something bigger. And in the current college football landscape, that’s not nothing.
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Kentucky Fans Will Love Who Just Dropped By Practice
A familiar face stopped by Kentucky football practice recently, and it was one that should land well with the fan base. Actor Steve Zahn, a longtime Wildcats supporter, visited to help promote the second season of his Hulu series "Chad Powers," and new coach Will Stein introduced him to the team during the session.
Zahn also has a real Kentucky connection through his work on the role, having shadowed former coach Mark Stoops while preparing for the part and later speaking about the pressure college coaches deal with. He gave the players a brief pep talk and encouraged them to check out the show, a crossover moment that tied the current staff, the program's past and a little off-field buzz together in one visit. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Fans Are About To Learn What This New Offense Can Change
Kentucky heads into 2026 with a different voice running the program, and the hope around Will Stein is simple enough to understand: the offense has to look less stuck in neutral. After years of frustration on that side of the ball, Stein arrives with a reputation for getting more out of his offense, and his work at Oregon is a big reason the hire drew so much attention in Lexington. The challenge is obvious, though. The SEC does not give new play-callers much room to ease in, and Kentucky fans have spent long enough watching promises turn into the same old struggles.
The early part of the schedule will do a lot of the talking, because the Wildcats are about to find out quickly how much this reset can actually change. The articles game-by-game look at 2026 points to a rough start, with Alabama and Texas A&M waiting up front, and those matchups should offer an immediate read on whether the new scheme can travel against elite defenses. For Kentucky, the intrigue is not just whether Stein can lift the offense, but whether the first few weeks of the season show a program finally capable of looking different when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Secondary May Be Leaning On A Breakout Defender
Kentuckys secondary has already spent part of the offseason sorting out what the next version of the defense might look like, and junior defensive back Terhyon Nichols has given the new staff a reason to believe hell be part of the answer. Cornerbacks coach Allen Brown singled out Nichols during preseason workouts for the way he has approached the work, a notable development for a player who arrived with four-star pedigree and then carved out a meaningful role last season even while dealing with injuries.
The Wildcats also made sure Nichols remains in the picture for 2026, a sign the new coaching staff sees him as more than just a depth option. Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman has been equally upbeat about Nichols growth and what it could mean once the season gets rolling, leaving Kentucky with an increasingly interesting question in the defensive backfield: whether Nichols is simply a reliable returning piece or the kind of breakout defender that can help shape the units ceiling. [Read more 🡒]