Oregon Ducks Dan Lanning: Eugene "A Place You Can Accomplish All Your Goals"

Oregon Ducks Football coach Dan Lanning spoke with the Big Network during spring meetings, covering a range of topics. Among those: adjusting to a new league, experiencing Autzen, and the College Football Playoff.
Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning and his team address the crowd during a timeout as the Oregon Ducks host the Arizona Wildcats Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore.
Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning and his team address the crowd during a timeout as the Oregon Ducks host the Arizona Wildcats Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA
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Oregon Ducks Football coach Dan Lanning wants to bring a national title back to Eugene.

Is that an obvious statement from any high level head coach? Sure. But Lanning's love for Eugene and the people of Oregon gives that statement some extra weight.

"It has everything that I ever wanted," Lanning told Rick Pizzo during the B1G Spring Meetings. "As much for anything, for my family. We've been in a lot of different spots. Its great to have continuity and be in a place where you feel like you can accomplish all of your goals.

"There's some goals that I haven't accomplished yet that I feel indebted to the people that helped get me here that I wanna accomplish."

Lanning has posted back-to-back double-digit wins, notching 10 victories in 2022 and 12 in 2023. He's also led the Ducks to a pair of bowl wins as well as a top-20 and a top-10 finish.

Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and head coach Dan Lanning celebrate after defeating the Liberty Flames in the Fiesta Bowl.
Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and head coach Dan Lanning celebrate after defeating the Liberty Flames to win the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Jan. 1, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

What's missing? Conference and national titles. That begins with a slew of new opponents in the expanded Big Ten Conference.

"Ultimately, winning football is winning football," Lanning said. "That's not going to look a lot different (in a new league). It's a conference that's really strong going to be a fun challenge for us week in and week out to go out there and play."

While Lanning declined to name any specific road trips he's looking forward to this fall, he did say he's happy more people will get to experience travelling to Eugene.

"We have great fans," Lanning said. "They make the experience unique. There's some things that happen at Autzen Stadium that don't happen anywhere else in the world."

But after the new visitors experience Autzen, the Ducks are hoping to have put themselves in a position for the expanded College Football Playoff, now taking 12 teams for the first time.

"I think it's going to bring a lot of excitement to college football," Lanning said. "The more quality teams that you can have competing for a championship at the end of the year, the better the product will be on the field."

You can watch the full conversation below.


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Kaleb Henry

KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans.He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team.