Will Stein is building something special in Lexington.
The first-year head coach has led the Wildcats to a 5-1 record with big wins over two ranked SEC teams, and many feel Kentucky is a win or two away from breaking into the AP Top 25.
The biggest win of Klein’s brief career happened on Saturday when Kentucky knocked off previously 10th-ranked LSU in overtime. It marked the second straight week UK pulled off an upset win in overtime (the team beat South Carolina the week before).
While there’s plenty of reason to celebrate for Wildcat fans, they were also hit with a bit of bad news following the LSU upset.
Kentucky Hit With Massive Fine After LSU Win
It was announced on Monday that Kentucky was hit with a six-figure fine from the SEC for storming the field after taking down LSU.
The school is $500,000 poorer after Saturday’s incident. That money will go to LSU per the league’s policy.
The SEC started cracking down on schools that stormed the field or the court after a win, increasing the fines for schools that violate that rule to $500,000 last year.
“The motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,’” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at the time. “The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time (it happened) there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.”
The SEC does reserve the right to rescind any field- or court-storming fines if the opposing team and all officials are allowed to get safely back to the locker room before the fans descend onto the field or court.
SEC Has Seen a Reduction in Field Storming Incidents
Kentucky is the first SEC school to be fined for field storming this season, and just the second school to incur the $500,000 fine since the SEC changed its policy last year.
Mississippi State was also hit with the hefty fine after upsetting No. 12 Arizona State in the second game of the season last year.
The fewer fines was exactly what the SEC intended after changing its policy. Similar such instances resulted in a total of $1.4 million in fines in 2024 before the minimum $500K fines were implemented.
The SEC’s old rule started with a $100,000 fine that increased to $250,000 for a second offense, and $500,000 for a third offense.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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