If one of the athletic directors looking to fill one of the Power 4 head coach vacancies in college football thought they had a chance at luring Dan Lanning away from Oregon football, it’s time to change course.
Appearing on the ‘Rich Eisen Show’ on Thursday, Oct. 30, Lanning intercepted Eisen in the middle of Eisen’s question when asked what his interest level would be in entertaining the thought of leaving the Ducks for one of the current openings and gave a definitive no.
‘Zero,’ Lanning said. ‘I’m not leaving Oregon.’
Lanning did add some additional words to the end of that sentence that got a few chuckles from Eisen and his staff.
‘… As long as I win. That’s what I always tell my kids, ‘If your dad wins, we will be at Oregon.’ So I got to win. That’s how it changes,’ Lanning said.
There are currently seven openings — Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State and UCLA — at the Power 4 Conference level of Division I college football as of Oct. 30, with the possibility of more openings coming before the season ends. That does not include the opening at Oregon State, which is competing as if it is an independent as the Pac-12 rebuilds, and the opening at Stanford that was created back in March.
Asked about his thoughts on the number of firings midseason, including James Franklin’s firing at Penn State that happened two weeks after Lanning’s Ducks beat the Nittany Lions in double overtime in a No. 3 vs. No. 5 matchup, Lanning offered a reflective response.
‘Probably more than anything, it makes me more grateful for where I am at. And recognizing how fragile and special it is. It motivates me to keep working hard because you realize how temporary things can be if you are not moving in the right direction,’ Lanning said.
‘On the same note, I always think of everyone else involved in that. The assistant coach, the graduate assistant, the player that is signed up to play for somebody and how quickly your world can change. Continuity and stability are important and it’s hard to have, and when you have it, you’ve got to recognize it and take advantage of it.’
Since being hired at Oregon in 2021, Lanning has built the Ducks into one of the top programs in the country. In four seasons at Oregon, Lanning has posted an overall record of 42-7, which includes a Big Ten title and a College Football Playoff berth last season. He was awarded a six-year contract extension by the Ducks last March, which keeps him in Eugene through the 2030 season.
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