The Oregon Ducks look like a potential back-to-back College Football Playoff team after stunningly destroying the Oklahoma State Cowboys 69-3 in Eugene this past weekend. Dan Lanning has a good thing with the defending Big Ten champions.
But could the SEC be calling his name, regardless?
The Sporting News’ Bill Bender believes the Florida Gators head coaching job could lure Lanning back to the “It Just Means More” conference. Lanning was a graduate assistant on the same Nick Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide coaching staff that featured Napier as WR coach. Lanning was also Kirby Smart’s defensive coordinator during the 2021/2022 national championship season.
“Lanning, 39, might look like the second coming of Steve Spurrier to Florida fans,” Bender wrote. “He’s 37-6 since taking over at Oregon – one of four schools with a winning percentage above 85% along with Ohio State, Georgia and Michigan. Lanning isn’t afraid to take jabs at other coaches, and he learned as a defensive coordinator under Kirby Smart from 2019-21. Lanning has repeatedly said he has everything needed to win a national championship at Oregon, but would the allure of the SEC be too much to turn down?”
Lanning has been proud of his Oregon program since taking over. He recently took Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy’s comments about the Ducks’ NIL spending personally, claiming it gave his team extra motivation to “kick a**.” Lanning was the first head coach to push back against Deion Sanders, too, accusing the Colorado Buffaloes of “fighting for clicks” in 2023.
Picturing Lanning leaving Oregon is hard, but the University of Florida may spend big to make the right next hire.
Scott Stricklin nailed the basketball hire with Todd Golden, whose Gators won the national championship. Lanning is a rising star in a similar vein, though he’s much further along.
Still, the University of Alabama couldn’t attract Lanning after Nick Saban retired. Why risk leaving a known NIL spender for a less proven entity in Gainesville or Tuscaloosa?