InsideLouisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week, meet the University of Kentucky's new head football coach.

Will Stein coach Stein grew up right here in Louisville.

A UK fan from a young age, he was a standout quarterback at Trinity High School and then traded his blue for red and played college football for the University of Louisville.

His coaching career began here at U of L as an assistant under coach Charlie Strong.

He went on to hold various assistant positions in Texas and most recently the University of Oregon.

And that's where he was when he got the call to come back home to Kentucky.

>> Will Stein is officially the new head coach for Kentucky football.

>> My history here with my dad playing here and my mom going to school here, and we know how special this opportunity is.

>> So without any further ado, let me introduce to you the new head football coach at the University of Kentucky.

[MUSIC] Will Stein.

>> Honored is an understatement.

I really don't know what to say.

I've thought today was a dream.

I thought yesterday was a dream.

It's just been an unbelievable, unbelievable last 2448 hours.

The vision is really simple.

It's to win.

It's to win.

I didn't come here to be average.

I didn't come here to be mediocre.

I came here to win and to win championships.

I've wanted every single level that I've been at high school, college and now the goal is to win here.

>> Well, we are excited to welcome Coach Will Stein, head football coach for the University of Kentucky.

Wow, that must feel good.

>> It does.

Kelsey.

It feels really good.

I am so fortunate and honored to be the head coach.

>> At Kentucky to represent my state.

Represent such a wonderful university.

That means so much to so many and looking forward to what's to come.

>> As a Louisville guy.

We are excited to have you there.

So being from Louisville, you know, the first thing we have to ask you is about high school, right?

>> That's right.

Obviously.

Or maybe grade.

>> School that's required on what you want to talk about.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Okay.

So take us back to the beginning.

Growing up in Louisville and where your love of football began.

>> Sure.

Well, I grew up in the Saint Matthews area.

I went to Holy Spirit grade school and ended up going to Trinity High School as well.

But yeah, I mean, I grew up on the fields of honestly, Our Lady of Lourdes, where that's where I played my flag football when it was a Holy Spirit and Lourdes combination League.

And, you know, it was always a part of a team played at Saint Matthew's Little League and just grew my love of sports through football, baseball, basketball, even played hockey over at Iceland.

So I was a part of many things in Louisville.

>> Yeah.

Did you ever think growing up that coaching was a goal for you?

>> You know, as a kid, I always wanted to be a professional athlete, of course.

And so I think that was always the first goal.

Then soon realized in college that it probably wasn't going to happen, especially towards the later years of my career at Louisville ended up transitioning pretty nicely into a graduate assistant spot on Charlie Strong staff in 2013.

And then that's when I really knew that coaching was going to be what I wanted to do.

>> Take me back to the days at Trinity.

You've talked a lot about how that really has shaped you as a player and now as a coach.

What are some lessons that you learned from your time at Trinity that have translated into your coaching style now?

>> Yeah, I mean, I played for Bob Beaty, who was arguably the best coach ever in the state of Kentucky and was very fortunate to be around some just phenomenal men there.

Bob Beaty himself, Andrew Coverdale, who's now on my staff as my pass game coordinator, was my offensive coordinator at Trinity Shoot Oscar Brohm was a coach for me at Trinity as well.

So yeah, those men really shaped who I am today.

The discipline that we instilled in our teams at Trinity, the toughness, just the the winning mentality that when you put the ball down and you play, especially when you're prepared to just cut it loose.

And Coach BT was instrumental in my development, especially early on in football.

>> Some people say the.

The style of play at Trinity is similar to your coaching style.

Is it true?

>> I think for sure.

I really do.

You know, there's never a game that we didn't play that we think that we didn't think we would win.

And again, it goes back to the preparation we prepared so well.

We knew every answer to the test before we even went on the field.

We just had a bunch of confident guys, some really good football players.

And like I said, we just cut it loose out there.

>> So then you end up at the University of Louisville.

So growing up a Kentucky fan in Louisville, I know what that's like.

And then going to play for U of L, what what is that?

What does that rivalry like for you?

>> Yeah, it was really interesting because I wanted to come to Kentucky and, you know, in those days, you kind of would send out your DVD.

You wouldn't necessarily have a Twitter highlight because Twitter wasn't even a thing.

Yeah.

So I, you know, we had gone back and forth and sent emails to Kentucky and other schools around.

It wasn't just UK and really got very limited back from anybody.

But Steve Kragthorpe was the coach at Kentucky, at Louisville at the time, and his son Brad, was a freshman at Trinity my senior year.

So Steve was very aware of who I was.

Jeff Brohm was the quarterback coach at Louisville, obviously being a Trinity grad himself, so they offered me a preferred walk on spot, and I really didn't get it till about March or April of my senior year, which typically recruiting especially now, happens so much sooner.

So I had to make a decision.

Did I want to go to Louisville or do I want to go to a Division three school or Naia to continue my football career?

And I felt like at the time, the best opportunity for me, especially coming from Trinity, was to go to Louisville.

And, you know, obviously those first couple weeks was a little bit weird wearing the red and the black compared to the blue and the white.

But just like anything in life, you get ingrained in a culture ingrained in a team and, and you go all in.

That was never half in, half out.

Really had a phenomenal experience there as a player and as a graduate assistant.

And kind of like my Trinity days was around some phenomenal men and women that poured into me and that made my experience there very special.

So it all comes full circle.

Winning there got Charlie Strong the Texas job.

And at Texas, I met a guy named Jeff Traylor who ended up getting me to UTSA.

And then we do well there.

And then I get to Oregon, and then I'm back at Kentucky, where really my dream of playing football and loving of sports all started.

>> Yeah, it's really a full circle.

Cool story.

I got to know how that was.

When did you know you were up for the job?

You knew the job was open.

You you haven't been a head coach before.

And to think that you could be have your first head coaching job at the University of Kentucky.

What was that process like and what what were your emotions at that time?

>> Everything's go everything goes a million miles an hour in college football, especially in the higher the especially the hiring process.

So towards the end of the season last year, you know, I, I was very pretty aware of what was going on here and not for the fact that I was just doing everything I could to get this job.

But you see the wins and losses and, and you can kind of get a feeling from your agent or people in the coaching community, some things that might happen.

So late November, you know, after the Louisville loss from Kentucky, and then we beat Washington on the road at Oregon.

And it's kind of just the chips fell in line and got a call from Mitch Barnhart about the opportunity to interview for the job and knowing inside that if I did a good job in this interview process, I felt like I could be the leader in the clubhouse.

And, and honestly, it was about a 12 to 24 hour process and everything happened very quickly.

>> Wow.

And so talk about how your that, I mean, obviously your qualifications speak for themselves, but the emotional side of it, how that played into your decision to come to UK.

But on the other side, how your background and story may have played into their position to go after you.

>> Totally.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's interesting because you want to take jobs that you really feel like you can win and excel at.

So the emotions are one thing, the nostalgia of going back to the place that you grew up rooting for, where your dad played, the state that you grew up, that is definitely something that's in your mind.

But if you only make the decision based off of motion, sometimes you can get, you know, put in a bad situation.

But I felt like with Mitch's leadership, you know, and with the direction of the program and what they were able to, to give me financially to get the best coaches, best players, and especially to do it for Big Blue Nation.

It was something that I just couldn't pass up.

>> So talk more about that side of it.

The the position that UK is in right now as a program and what you're going to bring to them to take it to the next level.

>> Sure.

Well, I mean, I think you have to think about Kentucky and the entire athletic department as this is a big time program.

This is the Southeastern Conference.

It's the state school.

The Big Blue Nation fandom is the best.

Our emblem carries weight everywhere.

Whenever I go out recruiting whatever state I'm in, when they see the UK logo, everybody knows who we are.

And so this is a big time program.

And in order to be successful, you just got to be aggressive and you got to be adaptable.

Today's college athletics is ever changing.

Seems like there's new rules almost weekly for us to to go by.

So you got to be adaptable.

You got to be forward thinking.

And I'm excited about the new leadership here at Kentucky under J Batt and what he's going to be able to bring from a revenue generating standpoint.

And I'm forever grateful for Mitch and what he was able to provide me and my family, which is my dream job.

And then now see, this thing going to new heights is what we're planning on doing.

>> It is a different world, though, and you're relatively young.

And so coming into it with this, that adaptability, do you think that gives you an advantage to other coaches who might be trying to figure this out in a new way?

>> I think so.

I mean, I think everybody's figuring it out.

You could have guys that have been coaching for 30 years, but the rules today were different than just last year.

So it's really all about handling adversity, being forward thinking, not sitting back and waiting for stuff to happen, but pushing the envelope.

And I've been trained by some phenomenal people.

I've been able to coach some unbelievable players, but working for Dan Lanning, working for Jeff Traylor, playing under Bob BT, as we talked about earlier, those people have really helped me to get to where I'm at today and I'm using what they've instilled in me as a player and as a young coach, and taking it here to Kentucky.

>> You mentioned Big Blue Nation, and I know you've grown up in it, but now having a taste of the the fan base after being here through spring and summer, what what has is anything surprised you from about the fan base or were you prepared?

>> You know, you never really prepared and you kind of.

Since I've been away from BBN for the last shoot, 18 years, it's like you don't forget.

But I've been reminded of the passion of Big Blue Nation and how much they care about their Wildcats.

And it, it brings me back to my days of listening to the radio, listening to Tom Leach at home while watching the basketball game, and I've muted the CBS commentary and put on Tom Leach to listen to him.

So I mean, I am Big Blue Nation.

That's how I feel.

I am one of them.

I grew up Big Blue Nation, and so it's really exciting to see their passion for this university, for this football program.

And we love having them in Kroger Field cheering us on.

>> Yeah.

What do you what do you see as the biggest challenge going into this first season right now?

>> Well, I mean, I think there's there's challenges every day.

I think building a roster is definitely a challenge and getting the right pieces in place to go compete for an SEC championship and a national championship, which is what we're working on.

You know, depth is always going to be, I think, an issue when you take over a program.

I think we've hit on specific position groups that we needed to fill and get quality, like championship level players in, but we got to continue to build the depth we have to, and there's a lot of ways to do that.

Recruiting is one.

When I got the job in December, the next 12 hours was National Signing Day for a high school class.

So typically you sign around 20 to 25 players.

That class, I think only had maybe 12 at the time.

Right?

Obviously, coaching staff that's departing, a new coaching staff coming in, there just wasn't really any recruiting from the high school standpoint that we could sign.

So I think that's where we had to build for this for the future is in high school recruiting.

We went out and attacked the portal and got quality players.

We felt like have winning football, you know, with.

But that's where I think we got to continue to build and.

But I'm excited about the opportunity with the players that we have.

I think we got some really, you know above the line players that can go you know, be a disruptor in this league.

>> What do you what is your strategy in recruiting right now.

>> Number one, just being authentic.

I think when they come on campus, which you have to get players on campus three, 4 or 5 times for them to feel really a part of this university and this program.

I think the one thing that speaks to all of our recruits and parents and agents and aunts, uncles, grandparents is just how authentic we are.

And I say, I love my family, I love my kids, I love coaching football.

I'm pretty simple.

And I think they feel that.

And then, I mean, recruiting is like it's the lifeblood of our program.

So waking these kids up in the morning and putting them to bed at night is a sign of a good recruiter and the sign of a good staff that understands that players ultimately win these games.

For us, we can have the best scheme and the plays in the world.

If you don't have the correct players to go out there and execute those schemes on a game by game basis, that's where I think programs start to slip.

So we put it at the forefront of what we do and we we go big game hunting.

Like we're not sitting back and saying, hey, we're just going to take low hanging fruit.

We're going to get the best of the best.

And I think when you see these players come on our campus, not only are phenomenal players, but great people.

>> What are fans going to see this season that is different with your leadership?

>> I think just grit, toughness, energy, passion.

We say if you're useful, you're useful.

That's one of our sayings in our program and I fully believe it.

And so I want our team to play number one.

I want them to play connected.

I want you to see a team that plays for each other.

There's a lot of high fives and but taps on the sidelines like touches are big for us.

And making sure that they see that the players play for one another.

They play for their coaches, they play for the university, and they see that connection out on the field.

I want to see an accountable team.

Teams that like don't beat themselves, that play clean, that do their job and do it to a high level.

Obviously, a tough, a tough team is instrumental in playing winning football mentally and physically.

We got to be the tougher team and the team that does sacrifice for each other and, you know, does something for the front of the jersey, knowing that the name on the back is going to prosper from that.

>> How do you see UK's position in the SEC right now?

We're where can they go?

>> I think we can go as high as we want to.

Again, I think there's.

The college football landscape is so much different than from when I was even playing football in college.

It's really, truly is anybody's game.

It's how you have the Indiana Hoosiers as the national champs.

And not to compare us directly to Indiana, but there's teams across college football that are competing for championships now.

It's way more distributed out than it was in the past.

So that's what's really exciting for me, is the opportunity to compete at the highest level in the Southeastern Conference with a group of guys that to me, are battling every single Saturday to win.

And my big thing is, let's spot the ball.

Let's play the games.

Let's let the results speak for themselves, knowing that our process is the right, right way to do things.

>> What do you think has been the biggest thing so far as having your your first head coaching position?

Is there anything that has surprised you that that you've already learned new?

>> I mean, I know I'm doing a lot more media now than I ever have.

>> Things like this.

That's exactly right.

>> So you're taking away a little bit more from what got you the job and that's the coaching, the football.

But I know that's also part of it.

That's what you sign up for.

And so everything matters when you're the head coach.

You can't just focus on the offense or the defense or nutrition.

You have to focus on everything.

And so I think just being really diligent and organized and your schedule, which to me, when I first got the job, I was trying to like figure out, all right, who's making my schedule?

Is it me?

Is it my assistant?

Like, how do I get all this stuff aligned so I can have a clean and, and organized day and it's forever changing.

I'm finding little tweaks in just what I can do as a head coach to make sure that I'm being really efficient with my time.

So the challenge is, I guess in the grand scheme of things are small, because I get to talk to you, you know, it's not like I'm doing some surgery or something.

Like I get to coach football.

So that's really cool.

And, but I've been really excited to, to kind of oversee everything and it's been a lot of fun.

>> What's it been like for you to be back in Kentucky and States arguably biggest celebrity right now?

>> It's been great.

>> It's been great.

>> Yeah.

You know, you go to places and you're like, oh, they're not going to recognize me.

I'm just a pretty normal looking dude.

Not not I'm not like too tall, like Coach Pope or anything that kind of, you know, go under the radar.

But people definitely notice who I am, which is, which is honestly, it's just an honor.

I'm very humbled that they do.

And again, it just fires me up about how passionate they are about the Wildcats.

But it's been great just to be able to be around some of my buddies from Trinity and that I played with, and just to see their kids now, you know, and I still don't have as much time as I'd like with everybody, but it is nice knowing that I'm very close.

>> Yeah, it is interesting too.

You've got Coach Brohm coaching UofL Trinity guy and you coached UK Trinity Guy.

How about that?

>> It's awesome.

Yeah.

>> Go Shamrocks.

We're we're obviously very proud of our high school.

It really shaped us into who we are today.

And you know, he was able to play for Dennis Lampley, who was another legendary coach in the state of Kentucky, and me.

Bob Beaty.

And I know Brian obviously played for for Coach BT.

And so the Trinity connection is real.

You know, I was able to see those guys a few times over the last couple of months.

And it's not like we're hugging and high fiving.

>> You know, there's still a rivalry, a little bit of a rivalry.

Yeah.

>> And competitors.

But that's I think what Trinity guys are all about.

They're all about winning and being super competitive.

So you know obviously I have a very big respect for Coach Brohm, what he's been able to do with all of his stops, the football IQ that he has and the teams, you know, speak for themselves.

So I'm excited to face off against him late in the season.

>> Finally, what is your vision for this program under your leadership?

>> The vision is to win a championship.

That's what it is.

That's the goal.

That's the mindset every single day.

There's so many steps in achieving that, so many steps in just winning a football game.

But long term vision is to win a championship and do it for the state of Kentucky.

>> Here in Louisville, the Stein family is known for more than just football.

Long before he was known as Coach Will Stein, he was just William growing up here in Louisville in his return to the Bluegrass State is truly icing on the cake.

>> Metco.

>> If you want to understand the new face of Kentucky football, don't start in Lexington.

>> Start here.

Inside a Louisville bakery where you'll find Coach Stein's mom and aunt excited.

>> They come in and want to argue the mom.

I'm like, oh, I'm the aunt.

There's mom.

>> Sisters Debbie Stein and Blakey Martin.

>> Well, we're sisters.

[MUSIC] I'm the oldest.

She's the baby.

>> Our co-owners of CC Cakes in Louisville.

Although Debbie's son, who she calls William, hopes to spark the cheers of Big Blue Nation, these sisters built their business with a crowd pleaser of a different color.

>> It started with the orange juice cake, our world famous orange juice cake.

I received the recipe at a Stein family reunion 30 years ago at least, and from there I shared it with sis and we just started baking that cake and it just took off like a whirlwind.

>> People were just going nuts over this cake.

>> And you could say that Coach Stein was one of the early fans of the orange juice cake, as were his classmates.

>> Sometimes I would put a little piece in his lunch when he was in grade school, and he said the boys that he'd be sitting with, they'd always want some, and they would kind of like fight over it.

>> And as he grew into a high school student, the bounty of this bundt cake grew as well.

>> He played over at Trinity High School, which is right across the street from our kitchen.

They absolutely loved it.

I'd make maybe ten of the big ones and take it to to the practice or to the dinner.

>> After high school, where he set Trinity's single season touchdown pass record, he was a walk on at the University of Louisville, eventually becoming the starting quarterback for the Cardinals in 2012.

But deep down, his roots were in Wildcat Country.

>> He grew up a UK fan.

Dad played at Kentucky.

I'm a UK graduate Matt a UK graduate, so grew up a huge Kentucky fan all along.

>> Those strong family ties are a key ingredient at Sissy Cakes.

Even the name says so.

>> And we always called each other sis.

>> Then one day a young William unknowingly helped create the family brand.

>> I think it was my son William that said.

>> I mean, he was.

>> Little, little.

I want a sissy cake.

So we're like, okay.

>> Fast forward a few decades at Sissy Cakes Bakery will cause his mom with big news.

>> We were here and I got the call.

He's like, mom, I'm going to be a wildcat.

I'm coming home.

>> Soon after, the official head coach announcement turned the family bakery into one of Louisville's hottest dessert destinations.

>> It slowed down just a little.

Not really.

>> So that Tuesday, the second we arrive to work that morning and there was news cameras outside of our door.

>> New customers and online orders were pouring in, all asking for the same thing.

>> We got to try this orange juice cake.

And at that moment, we didn't know.

We're like, how does anybody know about sissy cakes?

Just based on William being hired as the UK head coach.

>> So how did word get out that the UK's new football coach has ties to the bakery's now famous cake?

The buzz traced back to a social media post that said.

>> Oh, this is a fun fact.

Will Stein mom and aunt have a bakery called Sissy Cakes, and their orange juice cake will make you want to smack your mama.

>> A rave review for sweet success and a homecoming that truly takes the cake for Inside Louisville.

I'm Christy Dutton.

[MUSIC] >> You can watch and share this episode on demand online at ket.org/insidelouisville.

Plus, follow us on social media where Coach Stein gives some extra insight on that UK UofL rivalry and answers the all important question is the power K making a comeback?

You can find that when you follow us on social media.

We're on Instagram at KET N Lou.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.