Bio Blast: What to know about Will Stein's latest Kentucky assistant coach hires

Kentucky needed to start moving quickly on filling out the new coaching staff in Lexington. New head coach Will Stein wanted to get the coordinators locked in first before shifting the program’s attention to the position coach market. That’s exactly what happened after UK hired Texas A&M defensive coordinator Jay Bateman on Thursday.

The Wildcats reportedly closed the deal with three assistant coaches on Saturday and followed that up with one more hire on Sunday. Running backs, tight ends, defensive line, cornerbacks, and special teams coordinator still needs to be finalized, but we now have a clearer picture of what Stein’s first staff in Lexington will look like. Every hire brings power conference experience to the table.

What does the Big Blue Nation need to know about Josh Christian-Young, Cutter Leftwich, Joe Price III, and Tony Washington? KSR has you covered.

Josh Christian-Young

Josh Christian-Young is a Missouri native who played safety at Division II Central Missouri for head coach Willie Fritz. The former defensive back quickly got into coaching upon graduation and joined Fritz’s staff at Central Missouri and worked with cornerbacks, nickels, kickers, and punters from 2011-12. That started his current football journey.

Christian-Young then received a job opportunity in 2013 to work for head coach Jeff Monken at Georgia Southern. Monken left for Army after that season. The young coach would follow.

The cornerbacks coach at Georgia Southern would transition into a quality control role for for two seasons in 2015 and 2016. at Army Christian-Young would then be promoted cornerbacks coach in 2017. The defensive backs coach would then shift to safeties coach in 2019 before leaving West Point. During most of his time at West Point, Christian-Young worked under defensive coordinator Jay Bateman.

Christian-Young would then work for Fritz again at Tulane in 2020 and coached both defensive backs and outside linebackers during a four-year stint in New Orleans. The defensive staffer was a part of a pair of double-digit win teams. From there, Christian-Young followed Fritz again to Houston where he spent the last two seasons in the Big 12.

We are unsure what positions Christian-Young will be responsible for in Lexington, but this is a rising assistant coach who has been hired twice by two separate proven winners (Monken and Fritz) as he has ascended during his career. With previous work experience with Bateman, odds seem high that Christian-Young could have a heavy role in defensive game planning in Lexington, and will play a key role in a Kentucky defense that will ask a lot of the safety position.

Christian-Young brings two years of power conference experience and a previous working relationship with the new defensive coordinator to the table. The defensive assistant has worked with defensive coordinators Shiel Wood (Texas Tech), Chris Hampton (Oregon), and Austin Armstrong (Houston) who are all rising young coaches and names to know for the future.

Cutter Leftwich

Cutter Leftwich is a former center who played at UTEP and McNeese State. After his playing career ended, the class of 2017 recruit began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UTSA in 2021. He spent one season in San Antonio where he worked with Stein. Leftwich then left to work under head coach Chip Kelly as a graduate assistant at UCLA in 2022. That led to a support staff gig at Oregon in 2023. From there, Leftwich received his first full-time role at North Texas in 2024 where he worked for head coach Eric Morris. Oregon then brought Leftwich back to Eugene and gave him a run coordinator title as he worked behind offensive line coach A’lique Terry.

Leftwich’s dad, Spencer, has been a long-time offensive line coach with stops at Arizona, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and North Texas. Leftwich’s older brother, Mack, is currently the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech. The new Kentucky offensive line coach comes from a football family and is a fast-riser in the coaching industry.

Leftwich has already landed an offensive line coach and been hired by Dan Lanning twice before turning 30 years old. The young coach still has a couple of more trips around the sun in his 20s, but is clearly headed to a bright future in coaching.

There are some unknowns whenever hiring a coach this young, but Will Stein has worked directly with Leftwich for multiple seasons, and is betting on a known commodity for this very important hire.

Joe Price III

Joe Price III played for Division II Harding from 2001-05 before beginning his coaching career. That start began in the Lonestar State where Price was a long-time high school coach. Price’s father, Joe Price Jr., was a high school for over 30 years in Texas and the younger Price followed his lead.

The Houston native started coaching in 2009 as an assistant at Galena Park High in Metro Houston. Price then moved to powerhouse North Shore High in Houston where he spent five seasons and won a national championship in 2018 as the school’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. That led to an opportunity in college football.

With a work history in high school football that included time spent in football operations with a fundraising and recruiting background, a college football career opportunity developed. Price landed a job at Illinois as the director of high school relations under head coach Lovie Smith. Price then left the Big Ten for a director of player personnel role at UTSA in 2020. The former high school coach would spend three seasons in a recruiting department position before becoming a full-time position coach in 2022. Over the last four seasons, Price has been the wide receivers coach in San Antonio and received a associate head coach/pass game coordinator promotion in 2023.

Price owns deep ties in Houston, a rich recruiting background, and has logged four years of position coach experience. The former UTSA staffer worked with Will Stein for three seasons at UTSA and replaced him as wide receivers coach when Stein was promoted to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2022.

Kentucky’s new wide receivers coach has working experience with the program’s new head coach and deep ties in Houston. The new hire should immediately help give the program’s recruiting operation a boost, and will give Kentucky an active recruiter in one of the biggest metro areas in the country.

Tony Washington Jr.

Tony Washington Jr. is a Metro Los Angeles native who was a former three-star recruit in the 2010 recruiting cycle who signed with Oregon. The outside linebacker spent five seasons in Eugene and was a member of national runner-up squads in 2010 and 2014. Washington logged 120 tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, and seven forced fumbles in his final two seasons of college football.

After going undrafted, Washington spent most of a short NFL career on multiple practices squads before getting into coaching. In 2019, the former edge rusher became a graduate at Nebraska under Scott Frost. The former UCF head coach was an offensive coordinator at Oregon while Washington was in Eugene. After two seasons in Lincoln, Washington returned to his alma mater in 2021 as the director of player development under head coach Mario Cristobal. In Dan Lanning’s first season, Washington was retained and promoted to assistant defensive line coach before getting a full-time position in 2023 as a outside linebackers coach. After DeShaun Foster was a late hire at UCLA following the 2023 season, Washington moved to Westwood to coach the defensive line but that lasted just one season. Washington relocated to Ohio State in 2025 as an assistant defensive line coach where he worked under renowned defensive line coach Larry Johnson.

Now the former EDGE will work with Will Stein for a second time. Washington is only 33 years old and has already been a position coach in the Big Ten and has worked for multiple playoff-caliber programs. Washington was the lead recruiter on a pair of three-star defensive line prospects in his only season at UCLA.

The new outside linebackers coach is young and seems to have some recruiting potential, but it appears that his ties are on the West Coast. Washington has now been hired by multiple power conference programs and yet another first-year head coach is giving him an opportunity to become a full-time coach. This is another young hire by Stein with a high-ceiling.