Will Stein makes the case for watching film as a full staff, instead of splitting up

As coaches, we all become products of the environments that we were a part of, and new Kentucky head coach Will Stein is no exception.

We previously have highlighted Stein's days at the high school level, playing at Trinity (Louisville, KY) under highly regarded offensive architect Andrew Coverdale before going on to play under the direction of Charlie Strong and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson at Louisville and Texas and then also under Tom Herman in Austin. Of course, more recently, Stein cut his teeth as a play caller first at Austin Lake Travis HS (TX) before landing back in college football at UTSA for a few seasons before joining Dan Lanning's staff at Oregon as the Ducks offensive play caller.

During a recent conversation with The Left Hash podcast, Stein made it clear how learning under each of those mentors helped to shape him before giving the ultimate tip of the cap to Lanning at Oregon. Through just a few degrees of separation, Stein's experience, specifically how it relates to watching film, was a byproduct of Lanning learning from Nick Saban, and then Kirby Smart before carrying some of the same philosophies to the Big Ten in Eugene.

Asked why he opts to have the full staff available to watch film, while a lot of programs split their offensive, defensive and special teams staffs to attack that process in their own respective silos, Stein provided an interesting response.

Before he even got to the value it provides from a schematic standpoint, Stein talked about the human side of that intentional decision.

"I think building connection with your staff, being able to have hard conversations in front of people is something that you got to learn how to do because you got to put your guard down. It's hard as a as a grown man to be called out in front of your peers. It just is, right? A lot of people like closed door conversations, which there is a way to handle that. There is closed door meetings, but it's also like players get called out in front of their own peers. We should be able to call out guys in front of the other coaches and not degrade or do anything, but like 'Hey, why are we calling this play?' That's an uncomfortable feeling because it's going to be uncomfortable on game days. It just is."

"So, the way we train our players is one way. We have to train the coaches the same way. It also allows me as a head coach to hear the defensive coordinator talk for sure, which is big, not just for me, but for Joe Sloan because Jake can say, 'Hey Joe, this is a tough ass play, man. Golly, this sucks.' Or, 'Hey, whenever you're in this formation, I'm calling this like because I see it that way.'"

"We're not hiding things from each other. We're all on the same team. I think a lot of times in college football because of egos, because of guys and really the head coach not allowing freedom of thought, or camaraderie, or brotherhood, or connection that it can be offense versus defense. That is the direct opposite here. This is one team. So we've all got to be on the same page, number one."

"I also think it creates connection within your staff, and also the ability to just learn from each other, I think is huge. I learned more from Tosh Lupoi over the last three seasons, and Dan, because I am literally sitting right next to them, watching the tape."

Hear Stein's full thoughts in the clip.