A lot of change is coming to Kentucky football with new head coach Will Stein.
Stein, one of the best offensive minds in college football, will bring an offense-first approach that the program hasn’t seen
in nearly two decades. He will also bring a change in the approach to NIL, bringing the first general manager in the program’s history.
That guy is set to be Oregon’s Director of Recruiting, Pat Biondo, who was seen with Stein as he arrived at the Lexington airport on Tuesday, and also later that same day, courtside at Rupp Arena.
During his opening press conference, Stein wasn’t able to mention Biondo by name since the hire isn’t official yet, but he made sure to heap praise on the future GM.
“Recruiting is still old school. It really is. I know y’all might be like there’s no way, NIL, what is NIL, this stuff. There’s a cap now? What’s a cap? That is part of it. That’s why we’re going to have the best general manager in the country being here with me,” said Stein.
Before Oregon, Biondo worked under Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M as a senior assistant in recruiting operations. Before working in football, Biondo spent nine seasons with the West Virginia Women’s basketball program, where he started as a video coordinator, rising to special assistant to the head coach, and then director of basketball operations
With college football becoming much more NFL-like due to NIL and the transfer portal, there has been a strong push for programs, especially those in the Big 10 and SEC, to hire general managers. Now, Kentucky is the latest school to join that group.
