Account
Report: Georgia's Dan Lanning a Candidate for Oregon HC Job Amid Conflicting Rumors
December 10, 2021
Conflicting reports emerged Friday regarding Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning and the open University of Oregon head football coach position.
What seems to be certain: Lanning is a candidate for the position.
Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Oregon was expected to name Lanning as its next head football coach, with an official announcement coming Monday.
However, John Talty of AL.com reported later in the day that multiple sources told him the Lanning hiring report was inaccurate.
James Crepea of the Oregonian reported a source told him Oregon hasn't made an offer to Lanning or anyone else, although the Georgia DC is a candidate for the job.
The eventual Oregon coach will replace Mario Cristobal, who departed the Ducks for the University of Miami.
All this news comes one day after ESPN's Chris Low reported Oregon was "making a push" for UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who led the Ducks from 2009-2012 and guided them to a national title game appearance.
Per Low, a source also relayed to ESPN's Kyle Bonagura that Cal coach Justin Wilcox has interviewed with Oregon.
Low also reported that Auburn's Bryan Harsin and BYU's Kalani Sitake have been "mentioned in connection" with the Ducks' open position.
Lanning would be a good choice for the Ducks. The 35-year-old led the No. 3 Bulldogs to the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation (9.5 PPG).
Georgia is headed to the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 seed, with a date with Michigan in the semifinal Dec. 31. The final is slated for Jan. 10.
Towers reported that Lanning and Georgia were negotiating regarding whether the DC would stick with the Bulldogs through the CFP.
Lanning was an assistant at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Missouri, in 2009 and 2010 before becoming a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh (2011) and Arizona State (2012).
He got a bump to on-campus recruiting coordinator in 2013 for the Sun Devils before moving onto Sam Houston State, where he was the defensive backs coach and co-recruiting coordinator in 2014.
He was a graduate assistant at Alabama (2015) and inside linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator at Memphis (2016-2017) before moving onto UGA as its outside linebackers coach (2018). He got promoted to defensive coordinator after ex-DC Mel Tucker became Colorado's head football coach.
We'll soon find out whether Lanning is really the pick or whether the job goes to someone else, but regardless of what happens, the Georgia DC likely won't wait too long for a head coaching gig after his unit's phenomenal year.