Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.
At Oregon Media Day for fall camp season 4, Dan Lanning took to the podium with the same relentless enthusiasm he had on day one getting off the plane. "A lot of things to be excited about for this team," he said.
"Certainly thrilled to be back at work. It's fun to see the guys back in the building. Excited to see about what questions we're able to answer this fall camp. I know our guys are ready to work."
Imagine feeling that way about your job coming back from vacation.
"There's an excitement because it's a new group," the fourth-year head coach said. The Ducks enter 2025 as defending Big Ten Champions and the No. 6-rated program in the country in the Sporting News Composite.
"More than anything I'm just ready to attack it and figure out what we're really great at, what we've got to improve at. That's the fun part for me is what problems do we get to solve."
At Michigan 2023 national champion Jim Harbaugh used to say (and probably still does in the NFL with Justin Herbert and the Chargers) "We will attack this day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."
That's Dan Lanning's greatest strength as a coach, his relentless, authentic enthusiasm. It allows him to focus all his considerable intelligence on solving problems and growing in the job. It creates a growth mindset in his organization.
In that way he's the perfect coach for the flagship program of Nike athletics. He's always on offense. He wants to play defense with an attack philosophy.
He's clear about his goals, this season and every other season.
"What’s the best version of us? If we’re playing our best football, if we’re being the best that we can possibly be, then that’s something I’m excited about. The results kind of take care of themselves."
"What’s our goal? I mean, we have high standards. We came here to win championships. Obviously, we got an opportunity to taste that last year with the Big Ten Championship. We want to win them all, not just some of them."
He said he wants his team to feel a healthy competition anxiety every day in practice. He sees enormous potential in the young secondary. "It’ll change over time, but ultimately this group looks a lot like you want it to look as far as size, speed, athleticism. It’s our job now to get them caught up to where they can help execute at a high level,” he said.
A lot of football is simple. Often it's a matter of finding new ways to say the same thing and keeping a team focused on basic goals. "We want to be able to be a team that can rush consistently for over five yards per carry. We want to be a team on defense that can hold people under 3.3 yards per rush."
Duck fans hope he coaches at Oregon for another 20 years.