Oregon Football: What to make of the Dan Lanning rumors

Dan Lanning was rumored to be hired in as the next head coach of Oregon football on Friday night, but those reports were immediately shut down.

For Oregon football fans hoping for a relaxing Friday night after a long week of head coaching rumors, disappointment ensued. Sure, landing a head coach will put a lot of minds at ease, but there was quite a mixed reaction to the Friday night rumors.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning had accepted the head coaching position at Oregon and all that needed to happen was the signing of the contract.

Shortly after this shocking report came out, it was refuted by some reputable sources.

It looks like The AJC jumped the gun and maybe heard that he was in serious talks with Oregon and went ahead and ran with a “he’s hired” story. This isn’t going to look good if Lanning ultimately isn’t hired by the Ducks, but even if he is, this was somewhat of a wreckless report.

Multiple sources have said that Lanning has not been hired, no contract has been offered, but he is a candidate in the head coaching search. That’s it — for now.

So what can we make of these rumors?

This may have been a strategic leak by Oregon football sources

It may sound crazy, but this leak may have been a decent strategy by someone close to the situation to see how people would look at this potential hiring.

Fans were not in agreement over this news — at all — and while he’s a stud in the assistant coaching world, he hasn’t been named much in top coaching searches. He’s only been Georgia’s defensive coordinator for three years, so it’s truly tough to gauge if he’s ready for a head coaching job just yet or not. So maybe Oregon wanted this name floated out to the public to see the reaction.

A serious backlash from fans may have made this decision for the Ducks. This reminds me a little of the Greg Schiano-to-Tennessee situation back in 2017 when news broke that the two sides were close to a deal and fans almost rioted. This isn’t quite the same, but it ultimately prevented the athletic department from pulling the trigger.

Lanning has a bright coaching future ahead of him, but I’m not sure that he’s right for the job just yet because of his lack of experience despite being a brilliant defensive mind.

Being a candidate is fine and if he kills his interview, you hire him, but the Ducks can’t settle just because they want to end the process as quickly as possible.