Dan Lanning Has Oregon on the Verge of Something Special

It’s hard to find any real flaws in Dan Lanning’s first four seasons leading the Oregon football program.

He inherited a strong foundation left behind by Mario Cristobal but has taken the Ducks to new heights since taking over the flock.

Oregon has won 10-plus games in each of his first four seasons, including 13 in each of the last two seasons since the team made a leap up in difficulty by joining the Big Ten. The Ducks were the No. 1 seed in the 2024 College Football Playoff before making a quarterfinal exit and advanced to the 2025 CFP semifinals before running into the Indiana buzzsaw.

Since Lanning arrived for the 2022 season, Oregon’s 48-8 record is tied with Ohio State for the second-best in the country, trailing only Georgia.

This season, though, presents a new challenge for Lanning. Will Stein, his offensive coordinator the last three seasons, is now the head coach at Kentucky. Tosh Lupoi, his defensive coordinator for his entire Oregon tenure, is now the head coach at Cal.

Drew Mehringer and Chris Hampton were in-house promotions to replace them as offensive and defensive coordinator, respectively.

That makes this a year where Lanning can prove Oregon’s success has been firmly on his shoulders and that the Ducks will remain contenders as long as he’s in charge.

“Nobody’s going to have higher expectations for our team than us,” Lanning said Wednesday at Big Ten media days in Chicago. “We’re the guys in the building doing the work every single day. Certainly really proud of the team and the work they’ve put in. We have high expectations. We’ve got a lot that we want to accomplish.”

The good news for Lanning is that the 2025 roster is largely still intact in Eugene. Oregon returns 14 starters from last year’s team and sits 11th nationally in ESPN’s returning production rankings.

Lanning is already seeing the difference.

“Last year, I felt like we had a team that had a ton of talent. This year, we have a team that has a lot of experience returning,” Lanning said. “A lot of those young guys that played are guys that have great experience. I am excited to see what that looks like.”

Quarterback Dante Moore, who threw for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns last season, chose to run it back with the Ducks instead of almost certainly going to the New York Jets as the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

The public is clearly believing in Lanning’s squad, with Oregon tied for the third-best odds (+750) to win the national title this season, according to DraftKings.

Lanning likewise believes, telling ESPN on Wednesday that his team is “close” to bringing home the program’s elusive first national championship.

The 2026 season would be quite a time for him to break through and become the fifth active FBS coach who has won a national championship.