Who is Dan Lanning? Meet Oregon's New Head Coach

Oregon officially announced its 35th head coach on Saturday.

The University of Oregon has been about innovation in its athletics programs for decades, and it trickled into this search for its next head football coach. Oregon interviewed plenty of experienced head coaches who had all coached at the FBS level, and instead the man for the job is 35-year-old Dan Lanning, the Georgia defensive coordinator who will begin his first stint as a head coach.

Lanning's rise in college football has been fairly recent as his Georgia Bulldogs' defense had a ridiculous regular season. So many fans are probably wondering: aside from the fact that he is Georgia's defensive coordinator and has coached this incredible defense, who is Dan Lanning?

The Ducks' new head coach is a Richmond, Mo., native who played college football at William Jewell College — a Division 2 school in Liberty, Mo. Lanning earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from William Jewell in physical education and secondary education, and he also earned a master's degree in secondary administration from William Woods University, located in Fulton, Mo.

Like many former college football players looking to get started in coaching, he began his coaching career at the high school level as an assistant at Park Hill South High School, home of the Panthers, in Riverside, Mo. He coached defensive backs, wide receivers, and special teams during his three years with the Panthers.

He moved up to the college level in 2011, joining Todd Graham's coaching staff at Pittsburgh as a graduate assistant. He also worked with Mike Norvell, who was the co-offensive coordinator at Pitt. He got his start in recruiting and worked with the defensive backs.

From there, he joined Graham and Norvell in 2012 at Arizona State, where he was a grad assistant for his first year and became an on-campus recruiting coordinator.

In 2014, Lanning was hired at Sam Houston State, an FCS school in Huntsville, Tex., to be its defensive backs coach and a recruiting coordinator. In his lone season with there, the Bearkats were one win away from advancing to the FCS Championship Game but lost to a Carson Wentz-led North Dakota State team that went on to win its fourth-straight national title.

Then Nick Saban came calling. In 2015, Lanning was hired as a defensive grad assistant with the outside linebackers — a unit that included future NFL players like Rashaan Evans, Christian Miller, Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams.

At Alabama, Lanning was surrounded by future big-time head coaches, including Saban, Mario Cristobal (Miami), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Billy Napier (Florida), and Mel Tucker (Michigan State). The Crimson Tide went on to go 14-1, winning the SEC championship and the national championship.

Prior to the Tide's national championship win over Clemson in January, Lanning had been hired as the inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Memphis in December. Norvell brought back his former assistant for a third go-round together, as he had been hired by Memphis to be its new head coach. 

Lanning helped the Tigers win both on the field and on the recruiting trail in his two seasons there, especially in his second year. The Tigers finished 10-3, advancing to the AAC Championship Game and winning 10 games for just the third time in program history. 

In each of his two years at Memphis, the Tigers were a top-five team in turnovers gained. His impressive stint there earned him looks around the country, and he was hired by Georgia to coach outside linebackers in 2018.

He coached elite defensive players like D'Andre Walker and Azeez Ojulari, who were both NFL draft picks. In 2018, Georgia was 16th in the country in scoring defense, 13th in total defense, and 15th in passing defense.

He coached behind Mel Tucker, who after the 2018 season left to become the head coach at Colorado. Lanning was promoted to defensive coordinator, his highest ranking yet, while also still coaching outside linebackers.

Lanning's three seasons at Georgia have seen some elite defenses, but none quite like what he built in the 2021. Through the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs rank first in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 9.5 points per game — an incredible statistic that is actually inflated by Alabama scoring 41 in the title game.

Georgia didn't allow 20 points in a single game prior to the loss to Alabama. The Bulldogs sit third nationally in passing defense (172.7 yards allowed per game), first in red zone defense (60% of opposing red zone trips end in scores), and third in rushing defense (81.7 yards allowed per game).

The Ducks are getting a dynamic defensive coach that has experience working around many successful coaches, and Lanning is an elite recruiter. According to 247 Sports, Georgia's 2022 class sits at No. 2 in the country, while the 2021 class ranked fourth and the 2020 class was the best in the nation.

This season Oregon's defense has shown flashes of being special in the future, but injuries hurt the unit's chance to be consistent. There is so much talent on defense that will excel with Lanning at the helm, but it's not just defensive players that will be under the spotlight in the Lanning era.

Lanning can't celebrate too much after getting his first head coaching gig. The Ducks' coaching staff is scraps from what it was just last week, and with early signing day just days away, building the coaching staff should be at the top of the to-do list. 

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