Dan Lanning addresses whether he wants to coach in NFL

Dan Lanning wants Oregon to be his last stop. During an appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys, the Ducks’ head coach explained why Oregon is the place for him when asked if he’d ever want to coach in the NFL.

“No, I used to want to,” Lanning said. “I think you figure out — like we talked about earlier — where do you really fit? Like, where’s your niche? And I do feel like this age group is the group that I connect with unbelievably.

“And then more than that, I always think back to it seems like everybody’s always thinking about, ‘What’s next, what’s next, what’s next?’ And for me, I’m more of the ‘Thank you.’ Like, I get to do this here. I can’t imagine going to do this somewhere else because of the opportunity that Oregon’s given me.”

Lanning hasn’t allowed that opportunity to go to waste. In his three seasons as Oregon’s head coach, he’s never had fewer than 10 wins in a season.

Last year was Lanning’s best campaign yet at the helm. The Ducks went 12-0 in the regular season, won the Big Ten Championship and were the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Alas, Oregon ultimately fell to Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals.

While some coaches would’ve allowed the loss to stifle their momentum, Lanning immediately went back to work in the offseason. After all, he’s determined not to let Oregon down.

“So often, everybody’s like, ‘Well, I can go do this somewhere else.’ I want to do it here,” Lanning said. “I want to make it happen here because they believed in me, right? It wasn’t like I was a head coach coming from somewhere else.

“I was a D-coordinator and hadn’t been a head coach, right? I coached a third-grade basketball team in high school, right? So they gave me an opportunity. Why not do it here? That’s the piece. There’s definitely a different quality of life, appreciation in the NFL. They’re not recruiting and [wearing] a lot of the hats [we] wear, but every job’s got pieces that you’re not in love with. But this is a place that I love doing it.”

Dan Lanning isn’t all talk. After Nick Saban retired in early 2024, there was plenty of speculation that Lanning would be in the running for the job. However, Lanning quickly clarified that he wouldn’t be leaving Oregon.

Evidently, fans shouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon. With plenty of fresh faces on the roster, Lanning will look to take the Ducks to new heights in the upcoming season.