Podcast hosts Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman of On3 Sports think Oregon is one of the top four jobs in college football, in a segment they did for their show Wednesday.
They place the Ducks behind only Georgia, Ohio State and Texas as a destination for head coaches, ahead of traditional powers LSU, Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Penn State.
In a supporting article for the On3 website, Staples defines the criteria for a top job in the sport:
Total support from the school in terms of resources and alignment between the athletic department and the president’s office.
A passionate (and preferably wealthy) fan/donor base.
A history of success plus a repeatable model of recent success.
Proximity to excellent recruits.
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In March of this year Oregon upped Dan Lanning's base salary to $11 million a year with a new six-year contract that includes a $20 million buyout. He's inside the Top 5 among college coaches at that figure.
When the new deal was announced, the fourth-year head coach said in a statement, "Every morning I wake up grateful and hungry to represent Oregon." He's 35-6 after his first three years, with a conference championship and undefeated regular season in Year 3.
Over the last 25 seasons the Ducks have finished in the Top 25 17 times and they've had two losing seasons. The program had a 110-game sellout streak from 1999-2016 and draws 40,000 for the annual spring game.
In 2021 a contribution by Phil Knight and his wife Penny pushed his total contribution to the University of Oregon to over $1 billion. Other significant donors to Oregon athletics include Robert and Jane Sanders, Pat Kilenny, Robin Jaqua, and Alan and Jean Pedersen.
Oregon gets high marks for fan loyalty, enthusiasm and support, but the one area it fall short in the Wasserman/Staples survey is in proximity to recruits. The state of Oregon produces just a handful of D-1 athletes every year and Lanning and his staff have to import players from around the country, ranging from California to Texas to Florida to Washington D.C.
Currently the Ducks are trending for 2026 wide receiver Messiah Hampton, a speedy pass catcher from Rochester, New York.
On May 6 in Dallas, Lanning received the Gene Stallings Award for leadership, character and achievement in college football.
The 39-year-old head coach has been offered other jobs and rumored for other jobs, but he's said repeatedly that his dream job is in Eugene.
Last summer he told ESPN, "When you make decisions before opportunities arise, I think it's really easy. And my family and I made a decision a long time ago, this will be, for us, the last place that we coach .... That means I have to win."