Will Stein, former Louisville quarterback, is ready to put his Ls Down at Kentucky

Since Will Stein was hired, we’ve talked a lot about how he grew up a Kentucky fan, the son of former Wildcat Matt Stein, who played for Jerry Claiborne in the 1980s. Hearing Stein talk about cheering the Cats on from his family’s seats in Section 128, Row 13 of Commonwealth Stadium brings out the warm fuzzies as we get ready for him to usher the program into a new era. It also makes it easier to set aside the fact that Stein played for Kentucky’s archrival, Louisville, eventually becoming the Cardinals’ starting quarterback and working on the coaching staff before following Charlie Strong to Texas.

At his introductory press conference, Stein was able to avoid the question on a lot of fans’ minds (although our own Jacob Polacheck had his hand raised ready to ask): now that Stein is Kentucky’s coach, will he do an Ls Down when it’s time to play the Cards, his former squad? Matt Jones pressed him on it during his interview on KSR this morning.

“Well, listen, the first uniform I ever put on was a Kentucky uniform. I was probably, I don’t know, a day old, and my parents had me in that,” Stein said, before launching into his connections to the Brohm family. Louisville coach Jeff Brohm was Stein’s first quarterback coach at UofL. Jeff’s father, Oscar, was Stein’s quarterback coach at Trinity High School.

“So, to say, I don’t love and respect Jeff as a person, would be an understatement. I think he’s a hell of a ball coach, but it is my job to out-recruit him and to beat him every single time we play.”

Safe answer. When Matt asked again if he would do an Ls Down, Stein finally relented.

“Yeah, I’ll do whatever we’ve got to do. I’ll do whatever we’ve got to do. Of course. It is what it is, man. I’m at the University of Kentucky. And they’re our bitter in-state rival. So the key is winning with class, losing with class, and being a great representation of the state of Kentucky and this whole university.”

Even if Louisville fans lose their minds when Stein throws an Ls Down, his friends will understand. On KSR, he revealed that some of them — who cheer for the Cards — were at his introductory press conference, wearing blue to support him.

“If you’ve lived in Louisville long enough, you know that everybody does know everybody,” Stein said. “It’s a place where you say, Hey, where’d you go to school? And they say, I went to the Holy Spirit grade school. I went to St. Agnes. They don’t even say their college. They either say their grade school or their high school. So it is very tight-knit.

“I had some buddies up here yesterday who are Louisville fans, who were not in red. They were in blue. So, I think the tide is turning, you know? So, I think the more that we can get in the city of Louisville, the better for the Wildcats.”

That sound you just heard was thousands of “Amens” coming from Derby City.