Dan Lanning voted as Preseason Big Ten Coach of the Year

Dan Lanning is leading Oregon into his third season and the Duck’s first in the Big Ten. With that now comes a high honor for him for their debut in the conference.

Ahead of Big Ten Media Days this week, the league’s preseason media poll was released from Cleveland.com. Within those votes was the naming of Lanning as the Preseason Coach of the Year.

COY: @oregonfootball’s Dan Lanning 🦆 pic.twitter.com/cLOhyP6oHA

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 22, 2024

QB Dillon Gabriel joins his coach as the Preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. As for Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, that award went to Michigan CB Will Johnson.

As for Oregon, voters had them finishing second in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State. They were the only other team to receive first-place votes with six of the 27 total.

As for Lanning, he is entering his third year as a head coach in Eugene. In that time, he has posted a record of 22-5 (.815), including a 15-4 (.789) mark in the Pac-12. In 2023, that led to an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship, which they lost to the eventual national runner-up in Washington. That span has also led to a pair of wins in top bowl games. However, neither double-digit win finish have yet earned them appearances in the College Football Playoff.

This all comes after Lanning’s past decade and a half in coaching. That span included several stops around the college level with the most notable being jobs on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama as well as Kirby Smart’s at Georgia.

Lanning is one of the most highly-regarded coaches in the country, even at his age of just 38. That’s clear based on this latest distinction from his new conference in the Big Ten.

Gabriel named Big Ten Preseason Offensive Player of the Year

On Monday, Big Ten revealed its media named Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

After a standout season at Oklahoma, Gabriel transferred to Oregon this offseason. In the 2023 campaign, Gabriel tallied 266 completions, 3,660 passing yards and 30 touchdowns compared to only six interceptions. Additionally, Gabriel recorded 373 yards and 12 scores in the ground game.

For his efforts, Gabriel was a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection, a Manning Award finalist and a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Top 10 Finalist. Evidently, the Big Ten media members expect Gabriel to add another piece of hardware to his collection in the upcoming season.