Kentucky is expected to hire LSU's Joe Sloan as its offensive coordinator

Will Stein has found his guy — and it’s not the name that initially came up for Kentucky in its search for a new offensive coordinator. Previously thought to be UTSA’s Justin Burke, to the point his own head coach fielded questions on his staffer’s move to Lexington, it will actually be a familiar face in the SEC.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that former LSU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan, who was in Baton Rouge from 2022-25, will be calling plays for Stein and the Wildcats.

Sources: Kentucky is set to hire Joe Sloan as the school’s offensive coordinator. Sloan is the former OC and quarterbacks coach at LSU and spent nine years at Louisiana Tech prior to that. pic.twitter.com/u5jvD1PqIE
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 4, 2025

The Tigers averaged 332.7 yards of offense per game in 2025, including 226.4 through the air and 106.3 on the ground. The year before, he led the program to 431.5 yards per game with 315.2 yards passing and 116.4 yards rushing.

Prior to his time serving as offensive coordinator, he was also Jayden Daniels’ QB coach in 2023, a season in which LSU racked up 543.5 total yards per contest and 338.9 through the air during the future No. 2 overall draft pick’s Heisman campaign.

Interestingly enough, he also led the charge on LSU’s recruitment of none other than Cutter Boley during his rise as a four-star, top-200 prospect out of high school.

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Geaux Tigers 🐅👀‼️Something special going on down in Baton Rouge!! @CoachJoeSloan @Dean_Petzing @MikeDenbrock @CoachBrianKelly @theyoungcoach @jrbelton18 pic.twitter.com/njYOogJZ5R
— Cutter Boley (@cutterBoley) September 19, 2022

He’s the first official on-field hire for Stein since he was named head coach earlier in the week. The first-year head coach is also reportedly set to bring in Oregon director of recruiting Pat Biondo as the team’s new general manager.

Stein explained shortly after he was hired at Kentucky that he would not be the primary play caller and instead would turn his focus toward becoming a great all-around head coach, addressing all three phases of the game — not just offense.

“I do believe I’m one of the best play callers in the country, and I know why I’m in this position. But I don’t want to be a great play caller. I want to be a great head coach,” Stein said. “And when you think about the guys who won national championships, recently, and old, it’s guys who are great head coaches. I’m going to be heavily involved in the offense every step of the way, but just because I’m not reading off into the mic to our quarterback doesn’t mean that I’m not meticulous about what plays are being called and when it’s being called.”

Now, we know it will be Sloan reading calls from the play sheet. Will it be as a co-offensive coordinator tag with Burke still in the picture or his job entirely? We’ll wait for the details, but for now, it’s time to get to know the 38-year-old from Chester, Virginia.