Dan Lanning has confirmed that he will be remaining with Oregon football, with no interest in pursuing the head job vacated by Nick Saban at Alabama. But that doesn't mean he won't praise Saban for the influence the retiring coach had on Lanning's career.

Lanning was a graduate assistant on Saban's 2015 staff at Alabama, a murderer's row of future college coaches. The impact that season had was immeasurable.

“Working for Nick, that was the most influential year of my career,” Lanning said on The Pat McAfee Show, per On3.com. He also referred to Saban as “[t]he GOAT, man.”

“I got to work with Nick, Kirby [Smart], Lane [Kiffin], Mario [Cristobal], Mel Tucker, Billy Napier. I mean it was an all-star staff of people I got to be associated with. I felt like I got my doctorate in college football that year.”

Dan Lanning committed to Oregon football

Oregon football, Dan Lanning

At the time, Lanning was working at Sam Houston State as its defensive backs coach. One day, he got a call from an unknown number. Naturally, Lanning ignored the call. The call was coming from Saban.

“On my phone, I have a voicemail saved of the very first time Nick ever called me. It pops up on your phone, ‘Unknown caller’ or ‘no caller ID,’ so I didn’t answer it. It was the greatest thing I ever did because now I have a voice message on my phone for the rest of my life. It’s something I still cherish.”

Despite his reverence for Saban, or perhaps because of it, Lanning made it clear that he won't be succeeding Saban. Instead, he'll continue to build on his 22-5 record with Oregon football.

“I think getting your name put in the conversation speaks to what we’re doing right here right now,” Lanning said. “I love what we have here, I love the support, the administration I have. I mean we’ve got the things built to where we can be that team and we just gotta continue to take steps in that direction to get where we want to be.”