What Will Stein's departure for Kentucky means for Oregon Ducks

Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein has long been considered one of the top offensive minds in college football, as he's orchestrated high scoring and efficient units during his three seasons in the program. Also the quarterbacks coach, he's had a significant hand in the development of Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore.

Widely expected to be a head coaching target, the 36-year-old Stein has accepted the head coaching job with the Kentucky Wildcats. Their previous head coach, Mark Stoops, was fired on Sunday night, providing them an opportunity to go after Stein, who grew up in Kentucky and played for the Louisville Cardinals.

Now with Stein officially inking a deal to be the Wildcats' head man, a huge question looms for head coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon program: Who will step in as the next offensive coordinator?

They have a couple options for a position that will be highly coveted on the job market.

One is to elevate from within the program, as running backs coach and assistant head coach Ra'Shaad Samples will be finishing his second year in the program with the conclusion of the 2025 season. Despite his age of just 30 years old, Samples is well-versed on the offensive side of the ball.

He played wide receiver at Oklahoma State (2013-14) and Houston (2015-16) before becoming an offensive assistant at Houston once his playing days were over. From there, he worked his way up the ladder, spending time at Texas, TCU and SMU before being hired as the Los Angeles Rams' running backs coach in 2022 — the youngest position coach in the league at the time.

He was then hired by former Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State in 2023 as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. He spent just one season with the Sun Devils before Lanning hired him as the Ducks' running backs coach and assistant head coach, the position he's currently in today.

Having learned the running and passing aspects of the offense and being in a major leadership role as the assistant head coach, Samples certainly has the resume to step in and fill the spot that Stein is vacating.

If they decide that Samples, soon-to-be 31, isn't fit for the position, they'll likely look outside the program. The applicants will be aplenty; after all, the last two offensive coordinators in Dillingham and Stein went on to become head coaches.

The track record is that Lanning will go with a young, up-and-coming offensive mind. Dillingham was 31 when he was hired; Stein, 32.

Samples appears to fit that mold. He's young and shown effectiveness in elevating Oregon's run game to one of the best in the nation this season. There would be little culture shift, as he's been around the program for two seasons already. For those reasons, it's hard to argue with Samples not being the early favorite to claim the job.

Though, it's still very early in the process, as no outside names have been thrown about. Yet college football moves extremely fast, putting pressure on Lanning to get the hiring process in motion — and get it right, as it's a vitally important decision for a program that views itself amongst the best in the nation.

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: What Will Stein's departure to Kentucky means for Oregon