Dan Lanning's amped-up intensity prompts internet trolls to make absurd claim

Rimington Award-winning center and Unanimous All-American Jackson Powers-Johnson once said that Dan Lanning was so intense that he got fired up for a Tuesday practice.

Oregon fans are used to it. His over-the-top pregame speeches and passion-fueled team meetings have become the stuff of legend. He's wired differently, an old linebacker and linebacker coach who once drove all night to get a job as a graduate assistant.

It works for players and it works for Oregon fans. He has become beloved. Radio sports talk show host Jason "Big Suke" Scukanec of 1080 the Fan said on a podcast recently, "If you want to win a national championship, find a psycho."

Contrast Lanning's emotional style with James Franklin's monotone defensiveness and robotic pregame entrance, and ask yourself which style might resonate with athletes, might inspire them to supreme effort.

National champions Nick Saban and Ed Orgeron weren't milquetoast guys. Dabo Swinney comes off as eccentric and weird. To win big, a coach has to have a touch of extreme behavior, easily misunderstood.

The depth of misunderstanding and petty criticism got a little weird itself after Lanning's postgame interview at midfield Saturday night. The Ducks had just won an emotional, draining, program-defining game at the White Out and Lanning let his freak flag fly when asked for a reaction by NBC sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen.

On the verge of tears, Lanning is juiced up and full of emotion. His body pumps more adrenalin than three normal people. He's just beaten Penn State in the White Out as a 3.5-point underdog and he's overwhelmed by the courage and poise of his players.

So naturally, internet trolls go to the lowest common denominator as they always do.

The criticism borders on evil, something that shouldn't be said about a loving father of three and devoted husband. It's absurd too because he's just coached a game on national TV and a live audience of 111,000 people. For three and a half hours.

Now it can be told. Lanning is on three drugs. They are called winning, intensity and adrenalin. Oh, and Zyn pouches. Immediately after this scene he goes over to hug his quarterback, his athletic director and his wife and son. They don't seem alarmed by his behavior.

It's not the critic who counts. In this day and age, there are a lot of critics, each with a few followers and a platform for their nasty insinuations.

For the record, the nicotine buzz from Zyn pouches produces increased alertness and heightened concentration. Dan Lanning is the rest of humanity on six cups of coffee and a relentless desire to succeed.

He doesn't need drugs. Drugs would be redundant.

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