The Oregon football team had a good year last season as they ended up finishing the regular season 11-1 and they were a win in the Pac-12 title game away from going to the College Football Playoff. They ended up losing to Washington, but the future still looked bright for the Ducks under head coach Dan Lanning. However, rumors started to swirl about Lanning taking the Alabama job shortly after the offseason hit.
Those rumors about Dan Lanning going to Alabama didn't last long because Lanning always wanted to stay with the Oregon football team. The answer was always no when it came to Lanning leaving for the Crimson Tide.
“When you’re in a situation where your answer is already going to be no, people don’t ask you those questions,” Lanning says when he is asked if he turned down the Alabama job, according to an article from The Athletic.
A big reason why Dan Lanning is staying put with the Ducks is his loyalty. He has built something special in Eugene and this Oregon football team seems poised for success for years to come. There is no reason to leave that great situation.
“He’s the most loyal person I’ve ever been around,” Lanning's former teammate Trent Figg said. “Like, if you talk about why he stayed in Eugene instead of going to Alabama, he sees the value in how people have invested in him, and he fully believes in himself. He’s a very confident person. And he totally believes in what he has at Oregon.”
Lanning does not take this Oregon job for granted. He worked hard to get where he is now, and he wasn't going to give that up.
“The seat I sit in now, I remember what it was like when I wasn’t sitting in it,” Lanning said. “Loyalty to me is giving the best you got every day, 10 toes down on the job that you’re responsible for and owning that and realizing success will come from that. I get to live my dream. I get to do exactly what I signed up for and what I’d hoped.”
Dan Lanning compared his job to being a doctor
Being the head coach of one of the best college football programs in the country is no easy task. The hours that go into the job are seemingly never-ending, and there is always work to be done. Dan Lanning compared his Oregon football job to being a doctor.
“In a lot of ways in our jobs now, you’re a doctor on-call,” Lanning said. “Something can happen at any moment and it requires your attention. What I think I’m getting better at is making sure I take advantage of those moments when it does arise. I’ve been poor at that. I’ve gone through basketball seasons where I got to see my son play once. That’s not something I’m proud of. I want to get better at it.”
Lanning did shut down the rumors to Alabama quickly, but before he did, there were some recruits that were a bit nervous about it. Lanning recalled a phone call with the mom of a recruit and how an announcement regarding him staying would go a long way.
“I said, ‘If I made an announcement for you, would that make it clear exactly what we’re going to do?'” Lanning recalled. “The mom said that, ‘Yeah, that makes it really clear.’ And then I told her, ‘Hopefully at some point they’ll stop asking the question.’”
Oregon football did post a video that concluded with Lanning smoking a cigar and squashing the rumors.
Transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel committed to Oregon shortly before the rumors began, and seeing the way Lanning handled everything made him feel good about his decision. He loves playing for his new head coach.
“How cool is that?” Dillon Gabriel said. “That’s who I committed to. That coach is the guy everyone wants for the right reasons. He’s great at connecting with people, he listens, he understands, he can translate that into action from a guy who’s been in it for a long time. Everything he’s said has come to fruition. He just keeps it real, and I think you can appreciate that. He just does the easy things at an elite level. He’s mastered it. That’s exactly why people want him.”
The Oregon football team is in good hands with Dan Lanning as their head coach, and it clearly doesn't sound like he has any plans to leave.
Follow Us
Subscribe