Alabama football head coach Nick Saban revealed how Georgia's coach Kirby Smart was able to land Dan Lanning as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator back in 2019 for the Bulldogs. Lanning is now the head coach at Oregon, where he has led the Ducks to a perfect 5-0 start to the 2023 season.
Here's what Nick Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show about how he missed on hiring Lanning, who was a graduate assistant at Alabama before he went to Georgia.
“Dan Lanning was here as a GA,” Saban said. “He went to Memphis. I was ready to hire him, and two days before I did, Kirby hired him.”
“The longer you're a head coach, the more displaced you get from who are the best assistants,” Saban said. “You have to depend on other people, ask questions and do a lot of research to find the best guys.
Small decisions like that for a coach can end up having huge ramifications down the line, but as Saban knows as well as anyone after all his years in the game, those things will happen all the time. Lanning was a key part of Kirby Smart and Georgia's recent success, and now appears to be leading Oregon in the right direction as well.
Although Saban narrowly missed out on having a bright young coach in Dan Lanning on his staff, Alabama football tends to attract the very best candidates, both young and old, to come coach next to Saban. This isn't the last we'll hear about coaching staff battles (and player recruits) deciding between Alabama football and Georgia football.
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