Breakdown of the first-year head coaches Alabama football will play in 2026 season

© Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Alabama football is set to face a trio of head coaches in their first year coaching the program they are leading this fall in SEC play.

One of those coaches will open SEC play against the Crimson Tide on Sept. 12 when Alabama takes on Kentucky on the road in Lexington, Kentucky. Will Stein will be leading the Wildcats onto the field in his first year as a head football coach.

Stein previously coached at Louisville, Texas, Lake Travis High School, UTSA and Oregon. His last stop was at Oregon, where he was the Ducks’ offensive coordinator from 2023 to 2025. He had some great quarterbacks at his disposal at Oregon with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore. As a result of his having some success with all three signal callers, Oregon has made back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances.

Nix and Gabriel were both drafted, and both have started multiple games in the NFL.

Stein is now tasked with turning a Kentucky football program into a consistent competitor in the SEC. It is safe to say he is not lacking any confidence in himself.

“I think because of me, to be honest,” Stein said at SEC Media Days when he was asked why he believes he can win at Kentucky. “Because of me. I think I know what it takes. 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.”

LSU will lead Lane Kiffin in Baton Rouge against Alabama in November in his first year as the Tigers’ head coach. The Alabama faithful is obviously really familiar with Kiffin. He has coached the Crimson Tide and has coached against them several times. Unfortunately for Kiffin, he has never beaten Alabama as a head coach.

The Tigers are in a unique position with Kiffin leading the way this fall. Making it to the College Football Playoff is a part of the high expectations circling Kiffin, despite this being the first year he is serving as the Tigers’ head coach. He is coming off a season where he led Ole Miss to a playoff appearance before he left the Rebels to take his talents to LSU.

Alex Golesh will be the third first-year head coach the Tide will face. Golesh will be leading the Tide’s cross-state rivals, the Auburn Tigers, and Alabama fans are also quite familiar with him.

Alabama faced Golesh two times when he was the head coach at USF, and his teams showed up to test the Tide each time. He has previously coached at Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State, UCF and Tennessee. He has coached on the offensive side of the football throughout his career.

Golesh is not backing away from the elephant in the room or the elephant across the state. He appears to be embracing the rivalry and taking it head-on.

“I’ve been to a lot of events, a lot of fundraisers, a lot of alumni deals, and every single message is the same,” Alex Golesh said during an appearance on See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack. “It’s like: ‘War Eagle, beat them cats.’ ‘War Eagle, we hate those guys.’ And they’re not joking. (Auburn fans) grow up with a legit hatred (for Alabama), and I know hate is a strong word, but that’s about what it is.”