Dan Lanning was officially announced as the 35th head coach in Oregon football history on December 11, 2021, as athletic director Rob Mullens brought one of college football’s brightest young coaches and top defensive minds to Eugene to lead the Ducks.
Less than 24 hours after Oregon’s Dan Lanning was considered a “top target” for Alabama’s head coaching vacancy after Nick Saban’s abrupt retirement Wednesday afternoon, the second-year head coach released a video on social media Thursday reaffirming his commitment to Oregon.
Mixed in with clips from throughout the year on his loyalty to the Ducks, the video shared a simple message: “If you’re scared your coach is leaving, then come play for us. The Ducks aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not leaving.”
Lanning’s buyout at Oregon is $20 million, and he’s due $7.2 million in 2024, after getting an extension and raise last fall. That figure was likely not be an issue for Alabama, who will spend whatever figure it wants on who succeeds Saban in Tuscaloosa. The longtime coach for the Crimson Tide made well over $10 million per year.
The Crimson Tide finished 12-2 in Saban’s final year in 2023, with a loss to Texas early in the season and a loss to national champion Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl.
Lanning was a graduate assistant at Alabama during the 2015 season when Saban and the Tide won a national championship. Since then, Lanning served on Georgia’s staff from 2018-2021, including as defensive coordinator over his last two seasons. In his last year in Athens, Lanning helped the Bulldogs win a national championship before arriving at Oregon.
Lanning is 22-5 after two seasons at the helm in Eugene, including a win in the Holiday Bowl over North Carolina a year ago and a dominant New Year’s Six bowl win in the Fiesta Bowl over Liberty this season.
Back in November, when Lanning was reportedly being courted by Texas A&M for its head coaching position, the second-year head coach in Eugene was quick to shoot down the rumors in a long-winded answer about his commitment to Oregon.
“We talk about outside noise a lot in our program, I guess the reality here is No. 1, my name and our program would never be a topic of conversation for another school if we didn’t have something here that everybody else wanted. The reason we have something here that everybody else wants, that’s because of what our players, our coaches, the support that exists here at Oregon have created.
“I think I’ve been really, really clear here since Day 1, everything I want exists right here. I’m not going anywhere. There’s zero chance that I would be coaching somewhere else. I’ve got unfinished business here; there’s a lot that I want to accomplish here at Oregon. My No. 1 priority is being elite here at Oregon and we have the resources, the tools — anybody that can’t understand why you would want to be here at this place does not understand exactly what exists here.”
Lanning added he has three children, a 10, 12 and 13-year-old, that he wants to raise in a community like Eugene and that he has the resources he needs to succeed at Oregon.
Leave a Reply