Dan Lanning opens up on his approach to pregame speeches

Dan Lanning has fit in tremendously at Oregon over his time in Eugene, and he has the Ducks roaring and making a run at the College Football Playoff.

While his on-field knowledge has been the base of Oregon’s success, Lanning’s ability to motivate the Ducks has helped them remain among the best teams in the country. One of the ways he does that is through his pregame speeches.

They’ve taken on a life of their own, with Lanning going viral before Oregon’s victory over Colorado earlier this season. Speaking with the media, Lanning explained what goes into those moments, and provided some fascinating background information.

“I don’t know, I didn’t really give speeches when I was a third grade basketball coach,” Lanning joked. “You know, I did take a speech class at college, so I mean, we always want to find a message that we feel fits our team, and where we’re at in the season, and what we want to accomplish.

“I feel like maybe you’ve seen some glimpses of that, throughout this season. But yeah, it’s more about, what’s the message for our team that week.”

Regardless, what Lanning’s done over his time with Oregon has been incredible thus far. People are beginning to take notice, as FOX’s Joel Klatt is a believer as based on the kind of mark that the Ducks have left on him.

Klatt was in awe of No. 6 Oregon after calling their 29-point win over Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday. As he said on his show on Monday, the contest with the Utes wasn’t even as close as a near 30-point win would suggest as he saw it as dominant from start to finish.

“Oregon handled that Utah team – 35-6. It wasn’t close and it wasn’t really close from the beginning,” said Klatt. “I come away from that game thoroughly impressed with Oregon.”

“I come away from that game thoroughly impressed with, basically, everything that Oregon does,” said Klatt.

One of the main reasons that Klatt is so high on the Ducks is because of their leader in Lanning. As he continued, he had nothing but high regard and praise for Lanning based on what he has done so far and what Klatt thinks he could eventually do one day.

“What Dan Lanning has done, what he has organized there, and what he has built, and is building, in a year and a half is really impressive,” Klatt stated. “I love meeting with Dan Lanning. I’ve gotten to do it twice now. We did that Holiday Bowl a year ago when they faced North Carolina, got that win. And then now in this game. Each meeting was terrific. He’s laser focused and you can tell he knows exactly what he’s doing. For a young guy that is doing it for the first time? Dan Lanning is one of the best young coaches that I’ve ever sat down with. I’m thoroughly impressed with him.”

“It’s so clear that he has seen what it takes to get to the mountaintop,” Klatt continued. “He’s not married to some philosophy or cut his teeth under some philosophy that has made him successful but not the team successful. He cut his teeth and he grew up in places where they won championships. So he has seen the blueprint and he’s putting that in place.”

Dan Lanning has been a revelation for the Ducks, and Oregon will continue to be in the College Football Playoff conversation, as long as he’s leading them.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.