Because of Them

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) — Will Stein may eventually regret three words.

Or perhaps he’ll have them embroidered on a pillow.

“Because of me.”

When Kentucky’s new football coach uttered those words at SEC Media Days, he knew exactly what he was doing. Asked why Kentucky would win, Stein didn’t hide behind facilities, tradition, recruiting rankings, NIL collectives, strength of schedule, or the alignment of the moon and the stars.

“Because of me,” he said.

Those three words turned into one magnificent sports-talk grenade. They immediately became a headline, a sound bite, a rallying cry, and—depending on how Kentucky’s season unfolds—either the beginning of a legend or something opposing fans will be printing on T-shirts by Halloween.

As a fan and media member, I loved the swagger.

College football coaches spend so much time saying absolutely nothing that occasionally you want to hug one who accidentally gives you something worth writing about.

So, after watching Stein navigate his first few days of fall camp, I’m beginning to think his most revealing words weren’t “because of me.”

They were essentially this:

“Because of them.”

I asked Stein whether being a first-time head coach made him more conscious of avoiding mistakes. Was there one mistake, in particular, he had promised himself he wouldn’t make?

I was expecting the standard coaching response about preparation, attention to detail, or taking things one day at a time.

Instead, Stein started naming people.

Jay Bateman.

Joe Sloan.

Pete Nochta.

Josh Pruitt.

Parker Fleming.

He talked about leaning on the experienced coaches and administrators around him. He’ll ask Bateman how Mike Elko handled something at Texas A&M. He’ll ask Sloan what Skip Holtz might have done in a similar situation.

“I just use my people,” Stein said.

That’s funny. On the surface, it’s almost the opposite of what he said at SEC Media Days.

But unlike his Media Day response, “Because of them” isn’t something that’ll break the internet. It might, however, result in better coaching. After all, Stein isn’t some dinosaur who’s set in his ways.

He’s already changed his fall camp schedule based upon what he learned during the spring. He moved practices around to create longer recovery periods. He listened to information from Kentucky’s sports science staff. Rather than stubbornly following the blueprint he brought from Oregon, he adjusted it to fit the team he actually has.

“You can't just say, we're going to do it because this is how it's always been,” Stein said.

That may ultimately tell us more about Kentucky’s new coach than anything he said behind a microphone on the national stage.

Confidence gets attention.

Adaptability wins football games.

There is a fine line between believing in yourself and believing you have all the answers. The best leaders somehow manage to possess enough ego to accept responsibility while retaining enough humility to listen to people who might know something they don’t.

Stein appears determined to walk that line.

He even described himself as essentially going “to the doctor” every day, examining what he did well, what he did poorly, and what mistakes he needs to correct.

That’s probably a healthy exercise for all of us. Although if we examined every mistake we made on a daily basis, we’d all need a much larger medical staff.

What struck me most during Kentucky’s early fall camp availability was how consistently Stein’s philosophy filtered down through the coaching staff.

Bateman wasn’t raving merely about athleticism on defense. He talked about communication and pattern recognition—about players understanding what they were seeing and responding appropriately. After Kentucky put on shoulder pads, he liked the physicality, but he seemed equally pleased that his players practiced intelligently rather than turning the afternoon into organized mayhem.

Sloan sounded much the same way when discussing quarterbacks.

He wasn't obsessing over arm strength or highlight-reel throws. He talked about whether quarterbacks could operate the offense, make decisions, find completions, protect the football, and get the ball where it needed to go at the proper time.

Here we have two different coaches on different sides of the football preaching the same message: Know what you're doing. Trust the people around you. Get better. And don't be too proud to change.

Perhaps that shouldn't seem revolutionary. Yet in modern college football, where coaches are increasingly expected to be CEOs, fundraisers, recruiters, roster managers, transfer-portal specialists, public relations experts, amateur accountants, and occasional football coaches, the temptation to project absolute certainty must be enormous.

Stein certainly projects plenty of it.

He should.

Kentucky didn't hire him to tiptoe into the SEC apologizing for being inexperienced. It hired him because the administration believed a 36-year-old first-time head coach possessed the confidence, football knowledge, and leadership ability to revive a program that had lost its momentum.

But confidence without self-awareness eventually becomes arrogance.

“The wise in heart accepts commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.”

Stein’s early days in fall camp suggest he understands the difference between confidence and pride—between believing in yourself and believing you have nothing to learn.

There will eventually be decisions nobody else can make for him. Fourth-and-one. Two-minute situations. Personnel choices. When to gamble. When to punt. When to trust his quarterback. When to ignore 60,000 people screaming advice from the stands.

That's when “because of me” becomes real.

If Kentucky football succeeds under Will Stein, some of it undoubtedly will be because of him.

But he's already showing us something else.

It'll be because of them, too.

Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. He currently serves as a columnist for Nolan Group Media and invites readers to follow him on social media @KYHuangs. His latest book is Whining for Posterity, available on Amazon.