Report: Oregon to Hire Georgia Defensive Coordinator Dan Lanning

The Ducks are set to tab the 35-year-old to his first head coaching job.

After losing coach Mario Cristobal to Miami earlier this week, Oregon football reportedly has its next coach. As first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday, Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning will reportedly head west to take over the program.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman confirmed the report on Saturday.

Numerous big names had been attached to the job at Oregon, considered one of the best in the Pac-12. There have been reports about the program's interest in bringing back former coach Chip Kelly, who is currently the head coach at UCLA. BYU's Kalani Sitake and Cal's Justin Wilcox had also been mentioned. 

Instead, it appears that the program has settled on a first-time head coach who's led a historic defense at Georgia this year. 

Lanning, a Missouri native who played linebacker at D-II William Jewell, has been at Georgia since 2018. After a year as outside linebackers coach, he was promoted to coordinator for the '19 season.

He has also served on staff at Memphis, Alabama, Sam Houston State, Pitt and one Pac-12 program, Arizona State, where he was a graduate assistant and later recruiting coordinator under Todd Graham.

If Lanning indeed takes the Oregon job, his first game with the Ducks will come against Georgia. The two programs are set to open the 2022 season with a Sept. 3 game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Lanning, 35, and Georgia are set to face Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Per the report, Lanning is currently negotiating with UGA over whether he'll stay in his current job through the Playoff.

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