Our Oregon football program has sported some of the best offensive minds in the game, and now (almost poetically), Dan Lanning’s defensive prowess & passion have elevated Oregon into a true blue-blooded powerhouse. They rank 3rd in the country in this week’s dreaded AP Poll, after beating Penn State in a Whiteout matchup where the Ducks were rarely in doubt, and ...

Oregon Football: Where Does Dan Lanning Rank Today?

Thanks Alex, good article today for our forum to discuss. I grew up in Eugene and fondly remember Len Casaonova and all the great assistants he had on staff. His coaching tree is mighty impressive. Many of them went on to become great coaches.

I personally like Rich Brooks. I think he epitomizes the "Do More With Less" kind of Coach. I'm thankful that the two coaches before Dan Lanning (who shall remain nameless) proved that great athletes will come to Oregon.

I am now a big Dan Lanning fan! He definitely loves Oregon. He wears his heart on his sleeve. The players know he loves them and wants the best for them. His tough love teaches them to work to improve themselves (and himself). If you could design the perfect coach, I think it would look like Coach Lanning.

Lanning is special, and could end up as best if he remains at Oregon long enough, and continues to find and recruit extraordinary assistants.

Think of it....many feel Will Stein is one of the best OCs in the college game right now, he was coaching at UTSA, and at a high school before that? Talk about finding a-diamond-in-the-rough!

Nice article Alex...

Well I guess you could say DL is OBD's "Diamond in the Rough". 😁

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by MicroBurst61

Interesting question, Alex.  I would answer : “Who is the best coach in Oregon football history?” with a lawyerly question of my own: “What yardstick is used for measuring?”

 

If we google the list of Oregon football coaches we can readily find each coach with their percentage of wins.  We discover that way back in 1894 Cal Young had a winning percentage of 1.000 %.  By that measure, Cal is undoubtedly the best of all Oregon football coaches.  However, he coached only one game.

 

Going on down the list, Hugo Bezdek’s win rate was 0.721% from 1913-1917.  Hugo was also a great player for the Webfoots (the former Duck mascot name).

 

Chip Kelly tops the win percentage at 0.868%.  Dan Lanning is close behind at 0.854%.  Based on your projections of what Lanning will do in the future, he will surpass Kelly in this category.  So, Lanning will top the list, at least for a while.

 

Because of my extremely advanced age I have an advantage over most others in evaluating more recent history in that I actually watched the team coached by Jim Aiken in 1950 and every Duck team since.  Aiken moved OBD from the single wing to the “T” formation.  He also took an end named Norman Van Brocklin and made him his quarterback.  For those who don’t know who Norm was, Google him. I would argue that those two decisions have probably more to do with where the Ducks are today than any other coaching decision.

 

I knew the next coach, Len Casanova, personally.  Len led the Ducks from 1951 through 1966 and brought what most think is the West Coast offense to Oregon.  Yes, before Bill Walsh’s Stanford teams the Ducks were already playing the offense Walsh is given credit for.  It was really fun to watch back when the Ducks were running plays out of formations other teams were not running.  But Cas coached in Hayward field and did not have Phil Knight’s shoulders to elevate him above the rest of college football.  However, Cas’ teams planted the seeds for Autzen stadium.

 

Rich Brooks wins the endurance trophy, 1977-1994.  He gets credit for having the courage to hire Mike Bellotti away from a head coaching position at Chico State, and then to step up to AD so that Bellotti could become head coach.  Bellotti was an offensive genius for his time.  Mike brought with him Nick Aliotti for defense.  Together they produced some great teams.  Interestingly they were player teammates at Cal Davis.

 

Like Brooks before him, Bellotti had the courage and foresight to hire Chip Kelly and then step aside so that Chip could take over and do his magic with a style of football other teams did not play or know how to defend.

 

So, with all this history I find it impossible to say who the “best” Oregon coach is, because, it depends on too many factors that have changed through the years.  Undoubtedly, right today, Lanning is the best at navigating the player transfer portal.  I say that not to be farcical, because, obviously, no previous coach had the advantage of picking players from a farm team up the valley, for example.  I say it to make a point.  You simply cannot compare Dan Lanning to Jim Aiken because the coaching environment of today is totally different for Lanning from what it was for Aiken from 1947-50. 

 

This I know for sure.  Oregon has had some great football innovators leading their teams over the years.  Many of them, like Lanning, knew how to hire and manage a staff, Bellotti in particular.  But, Mike was not very good at firing staff members who didn’t work out. 

 

Many Duck coaches could see what a player could become with good coaching.  None of them had the advantages Lanning had from day one in terms of program recognition, facilities and financial support.  And, none of them had the broad experience Lanning brought to Oregon, along with his notebook of the people he wanted to have around him.  A notebook that I suspect is adding names like Will Stein all the time.  Nobody does it by themself.  Lanning is the best at assembling all the pieces it takes to win college football games in the ever-changing scene coaches face today.