Will Stein Near Bottom of CBS Power Conference Coach Rankings

What separates one coach from another? An exceptional scheme on either side of the line of scrimmage can make one stand apart from the other. Elite recruiters can elevate a program. Ultimately, they are all judged on wins and losses, which is why when CBS ranked every Power Conference coach, Will Stein was near the bottom of the list.

As the new Kentucky head coach pointed out on Paul Finebaum on Tuesday, “I’m undefeated right now. We haven’t played a game.”

Will Stein has zero wins as a head coach. No matter how many points he scored as the play-caller at Oregon, it’s not enough to convince the prognosticators at CBS that he is one of the best coaches in the Power Conference ranks.

Stein ranked No. 64 out of 68 Power Conference coaches. That may seem bad, albeit reasonable, but what if I told you he was the highest-ranked out of any first-time head coach? He’s even ahead of his former colleague, Tosh Lupoi, the former Oregon defensive coordinator who is leading the Cal Golden Bears this fall.

“So does Stein finishing three spots ahead of Tosh Lupoi despite having the same CV mean our voters are biased toward the SEC, or offense over defense?” Tom Fornelli wrote,: “Stein had a lot of success with quarterbacks while in charge of Oregon’s offense, and now he’s at a school that would really love to see any kind of success on offense because it hasn’t been pretty lately.”

One of the ten voters had the Kentucky head coach at No. 55, while his worst finish on a ballot was No. 66.

While this exercise does not allow us to glean much about what the national media thinks about Stein as a head coach, it’s still fun to play a game of comparisons. Mark Stoops was No. 20 ahead of the 2024 season, before dropping all the way to No. 36 last fall. It’s also entertaining to see how Stein stacks up with the rest of the SEC.

CBS SEC Coach Rankings

58. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
56. Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas
51. Pete Golding, Ole Miss
45. Alex Golesh, Auburn
40. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
36. Jon Sumrall, Florida
29. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
28. Brent Venables, Oklahoma
23. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
19. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
14. Mike Elko, Texas A&M
9. Lane Kiffin, LSU
8. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
2. Kirby Smart, Georgia

There were a few other enlightening selections in the Top 25. Louisville’s Jeff Brohm checked in at No. 24, dropping seven spots from last year’s ballot. Even though he was fired in the middle of the season by Penn State, new Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin comes in at No. 13. There’s also a new King of the Castle. Curt Cignetti’s remarkable turnaround at Indiana has made the Hoosiers’ head coach a deserving entry at the top spot of the rankings.