Dan Lanning shares biggest lesson learned from Nick Saban

Nick Saban shocked the world when he abruptly announced his retirement from college football. In the wake of his stepping down, stories of his legacy have flooded national airwaves in the weeks following the news.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, who coached under Saban at Alabama as a GA in 2015, recently joined in on revealing his lasting memories with arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

“I’ve never been more impressed with the consistency of a coach than Coach Saban,” Lanning said during an appearance on the Ryen Russillo podcast. “Just watching him every day, it was almost robotic how well he was able to move — but robotic and adaptable. There are a lot of people that have come from [Nick Saban’s coaching] tree. Some have had a lot of success and some have not. I feel like the ones that maybe haven’t had as much success, they tried to be Nick. You know, Nick was Nick. You know, Nick, Coach Saban was himself every day.

“And that’s something I appreciate and learned from him that whenever you get your opportunity, you’ve got to be you. But you’ve got to be the definition of consistency if you want to last in this profession.”

He took that lesson and ran with it once he earned the opportunity to become head coach at Oregon. After two seasons running the football program, Lanning has put together a 22-5 record including a 12-2 finish to this past season. Earning bowl wins in each of his seasons coaching the Ducks, many see a bright future ahead of the 37-year-old Lanning.

Still, he looks back on that opportunity to coach in Tuscaloosa in 2015 as one that jump-started his career. Lanning still has a voicemail from Nick Saban saved in his phone from when Saban called him and offered him the job — it’s one of those voicemails he’ll never delete.

“For me, it was never about chasing the dollars. It was about chasing the opportunity,” Lanning said. “And it probably ended up being the best decision in my career of picking a place to go where I could learn and be around great people and be around great players. I got to be on staff there with Kirby Smart, Mario Cristobal, Lane Kiffin, Billy Napier and Mel Tucker. It was just an elite group to be around.

“Getting to coach with some of those guys and be on staff like that, and we won a championship that year probably propelled my career more than anything I did.”

That group went on to take over the college football world seeing all six of those coaches, including Lanning, going on to take Power Five head coaching jobs. Some, like Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin, have taken their programs to new heights. With the way his first two seasons looked at Oregon, Lanning has the potential to be next on that list.