With rumors swirling that Oregon football coach Dan Lanning could be a candidate for the head coach job at Texas A&M, the Ducks coach definitively shut down that talk on Monday.
In 2021, the Oregon football program plucked one of the best young coaches in the game from the Georgia Bulldogs coaching tree when they hired Dan Lanning. In his first two seasons as a head coach, the 37-year-old has done a good job as he has been able to maintain the Ducks’ high standard.
Entering the team’s Week 12 game against Arizona State, they are in the thick of the college football playoffs chase and are currently the seventh-ranked team in our latest CFB top 25. While the Oregon head coach job has grown in prestige over the last 20 years, there are still more established schools that merit more attention among college football fans and the media.
That is why Lanning’s name was tossed into the hat when Texas A&M parted ways with head coach Jimbo Fisher last week. The school will pay Fisher a huge sum of money to walk, but they are likely to throw another large payday at one of the top rising head coaches in the country. Lanning certainly fits the bill.
Dan Lanning says there is ‘zero’ chance he leaves Oregon football program
However, on Monday the Oregon coach completely shut down the conversation in explaining why he loves leading the program.
“My name and our program would never be the topic of conversation for another school if we didn’t have something here that everybody else wanted,” Lanning said during his weekly press conference. “The reason we have something that everybody else wants is our players, the coaches, and the support here that Oregon has created. I think I’ve been very clear since day one that everything I want is right here.
“I’m not going anywhere. There’s zero chance that I would be coaching somewhere else,” he added. “I’ve got unfinished business here. I’ve got a lot I want to accomplish. Anybody who can’t understand why you would want to be here doesn’t understand exactly what exists here.”
As the leader of the Oregon football program, Lanning has posted a 19-4 record and scored a big win in his first bowl game last season against North Carolina.
