Contract details, buyout revealed for Will Stein at Kentucky

Will Stein, the Oregon offensive coordinator, is set to be the new head coach at Kentucky following his hiring last week in Lexington. Now, we know the details of the deal he’ll be on as he takes over the Wildcats.

Per documents obtained last night in Lexington, UK has shared what the severance package looks like for Mark Stoops as well as the new contract for Stein. As far as the future, Stein will be on a five-year, $28.5 million deal, at an average annual salary of $5.7 million, to start his tenure at Kentucky.

With that, Stein will make an opening salary of $5.5 million for his debut season in 2026. That will then increase each season until reaching a total of $5.9 million through 2030, with the deal set to expire after the first month of 2026.

Those figures could go up, though, based on the incentives included in the deal for Stein. Among those include an automatic, one-year extensio, with a pay increase of $100,000, if he takes Kentucky to the College Football Playoff. Performance incentives are then tied to wins, an appearance and/or win in the SEC Championship, an appearance and/or win(s) in the College Football Playoff, or Stein winning either SEC Coach of the Year or National Coach of the Year, as well as team GPA. In total, those could add up to an additional annual salary of $2.15 million.

However, based on how the last tenure just ended, one portion of the contract that’s of note is the buyout for Stein. Kentucky will owe 70% of what’s left of the contract if they were to fire him without cause, which can be paid monthly and can be mitigated due to offset language in what’s far less restraining terms than where they previously were with Stoops. Then, if Stein decides to leave for another job, he’d owe 30% of his remaining salary back to UK.

Other benefits are also included as part of the deal. And so, all in all, it’s a fairly standard deal for the first head coaching job in the career of Stein as he comes back to the bluegrass to coach in the SEC.

Since his quick hire made official on December 2nd, there’s been a lot of excitement around Stein. That’s as the 36-year-old is not only one of the better offensive minds in college football based on his resumé at Oregon, who will, for a second straight season under Dan Lanning, be in the CFP, as well as at UTSA and Lake Travis High School (Texas), but with him having his own former connections to the state and to the football program at Kentucky.

Stein is set to become one of the youngest head coaches in the country. He’ll be doing so on a decent deal as well based on these details since shared by those at UK.