Dan Lanning labels Oregon as an 'innovative' football school

During a brief hit on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Tuesday, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was asked a rather simple question: How would he describe Oregon as a football school?

And given the success for the Ducks this century, the move to the Big Ten this upcoming season and the way Lanning has supercharged recruiting since becoming the head coach, he could’ve taken the answer in a number of directions. He chose a forward looking one, instead, calling the Ducks an innovative program.

“When I think of Oregon, and before I ever took this job, you know, outside looking in, you see a place that’s innovative,” Lanning said. “And that’s really kind of been the mantra this program, you know, especially for the last 25 years of, ‘How can we be on the cutting edge? How can we do what other people don’t do better? How can we be different?'”

Oregon’s current era of innovation and success was arguably begun during Mike Bellotti’s tenure as head coach, running from 1995 through the 2008 season. But it was assuredly supercharged during the four-year stint when Chip Kelly was at the helm in Eugene, as he and the Ducks were one of the more innovative, offense-forward programs in the country.

There were some notable ups and downs between Kelly’s departure after the 2012 season and Lanning getting hired ahead of the 2022 campaign, but since he’s been in charge in Eugene, Oregon has again moved to being consistently at the fore of college football.

It’s something that Lanning, for one, takes pride in. And he’s been heartened to learn that trying to be on the forefront of new things is not just something that goes on within the walls of the football program on campus in Eugene. As Lanning described it, it’s a campus-wide culture.

And right now, he’s certainly one of the biggest names when it comes to Oregon and pushing ahead for success.

“And, you know, I think we continue to find ways to be different in our approach, and maybe not just always go back to, ‘Well, this is the way it’s always been done,'” Lanning said. “And that’s allowed Oregon to be really, really successful, to think ahead, not really think behind. And to try to be the team making the next step, not the team that’s reacting. Be proactive and not reactive. And that’s what I love about our program, and really the alignment from our administration, you know, all the way across the university. We see that here.”