Will Stein says he'd feel like 'a complete fraud' if he left Oregon before College Football Playoff run

Will Stein is balancing two important jobs right now: coaching Oregon’s offense in hopes of winning a national championship, while also building a staff and roster in Lexington as he prepares for his first gig as a college head coach.

He’s not in a unique spot, either. This coaching cycle brought plenty of movement in between the end of the regular season and the upcoming College Football Playoff. Kentucky had to act quickly once Mark Stoops was fired, hiring Stein less than 48 hours later. There are a handful of coaches across the country finishing out the season with their current school before they move on to dedicate all time and resources to their new job.

In fact, Stein’s coworker at Oregon, defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, is in this exact same situation. Lupoi was named the University of California’s new head coach earlier this month, but is finishing out the season at Oregon first. Finding the time to do both jobs at the same time obviously isn’t a simple one, but it’s one Stein has navigated well so far. He’s already put together a near-complete coaching staff at UK.

“It’s not easy,” Stein said Monday during an Oregon press conference when asked about doing both jobs. “(Oregon head coach) Dan (Lanning) has done it before, so I’m leaning on him.

“It is what it is. We are extremely focused on this game, number one, because this game is the most important thing for us right now. And we have to make sure that we are pouring into these players that are pouring so much into this program here at Oregon.”

It doesn’t sound like Stein ever had any intentions of doing anything but finishing out the season with Oregon, either. Whereas some coaches, namely Lane Kiffin, who is now at LSU but will not coach Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff, Stein made sure he was able to see the 2025 campaign through with the team that helped land him the Kentucky job in the first place

“I would feel like a complete fraud if I left these guys throughout this playoff run and this opportunity in front of us to coach in Autzen (Stadium) another time. It’d honestly be crazy,” Stein said. “The last thing I would ever do would be to leave these players.”

Will Stein on choosing to coach at Oregon through the playoff:

"I would feel like a complete fraud if I left these guys throughout this playoff run and this opportunity in front of us to coach in Autzen another time."

— Max Torres (@mtorressports) December 15, 2025

Stein has all eyes set on James Madison, which is Oregon’s first-round opponent in the CFP. The 5-seeded Ducks and 12-seeded Dukes will meet this Saturday, Dec. 20 (7:30 p.m. ET | TNT/truTV), in Eugene. A win for Oregon advances them to the Orange Bowl in the second round on Jan. 1 against 4-seeded Texas Tech. If Oregon reaches the championship game, Stein would be coaching the Ducks through Jan. 19. Of note, the college football transfer portal window opens Jan. 2 and closes Jan. 16.

But as mentioned earlier, the timeline at Oregon hasn’t stopped Stein from still doing his job at Kentucky. He’s already hired an offensive coordinator (Joe Sloan) and a defensive coordinator (Jay Bateman) at UK. Several other position coaches have been reported as new hirings, including a general manager and director of recruiting. Having those pieces in place has allowed Stein to take on an easier transition process.

“When I need to delegate to the University of Kentucky, I do that,” Stein said. “But when I’m here at Oregon and in the building. All focus is on the Ducks and winning this first playoff game.”

You won’t find much complaining from the BBN on that one, coach.