The question came in and Will Stein paused to consider the weight of the answer he wanted to give. Once you say this type of thing, there's no getting it back. Then again, what do you gain from being dishonest? Do improperly modest coaches ever win championships?
So, new Kentucky head coach Will Stein, why do you think you can win at a place with an all-time winning percentage below .500 and two SEC championships?
"This is going to sound, like, really..." Stein said at SEC media days on Monday, pausing again before, letting it fly, "I think because of me, to be honest."
Stein paused again. Then, he went back in. "I think because of me."
As audacious as that statement is, what else would you expect him to say? Why take the job if you don't believe you, and everything that comes with you, is the missing ingredient? Would reigning national champion Curt Cignetti have said anything different?
"I know what it takes," said the 36-year-old first-time head coach. "I've seen it at the highest levels. I know what it takes to recruit at this level. You've just got to believe, man. You've just got to put the ball down and play."
The former Louisville quarterback, and son of an ex-Wildcat, was the offensive coordinator at Lake Travis High School just outside of Austin as recently as 2019, following a 3-year stint as a QC under Charlie Strong and Tom Herman at Texas. A prior relationship with Jeff Traylor took Stein to UTSA. Three seasons in San Antonio led him to Oregon. And three seasons there led took him back to Kentucky.
"Is it going to happen overnight? I don't know. I really don't. If I had a crystal ball, everybody in this room would be really, really rich right now. I don't. The best determination of if what you're doing is working is putting the ball down and playing football. There's gonna be bumps in the road. I am prepared for tough moments and tough times. I've already self-talked myself, 'How can I stay neutral when stuff's bad, I can stay as neutral as possible and be very diplomatic in my approach,'" Stein said.
The good news is, he takes over a program that doesn't expect it to happen overnight. Mark Stoops lasted 13 seasons on the Bluegrass and finished above .500 in SEC play twice. Kentucky and Indiana are more alike than similar, but no one seriously expects Kentucky to become Indiana, at least not immediately.
But if Stein didn't believe Kentucky could become Indiana in good time, he wouldn't have taken the job in the first place.
"I know the players we can get here. I know we can recruit North, South and East," Stein said. "People come to Lexington and love it. The longer I live there I'm like, wow, this place is incredible. It's got everything that you want. It takes some TLC. You've got to go attack, you can't sit back and wait. That's what I refuse to do, is to sit back and wait. I'm really excited about our administration, the direction that it's going. That's why I'm excited, or else I wouldn't have taken the job. I would've stayed out at Oregon and coached Dante (Moore)."