Devoted Duck fans who follow the football team closely have been impressed with the superb hiring of assistants by Dan Lanning over the years. It truly seems that with many new assistant coaches hired–he improved the position that was already coached well. But I had to pause after downloading a superb betting app, the MelBet iOS app to reflect upon ...

Continuity? Lanning's Hiring Success is Put to the Test

Thank you, Charles, for the in-depth look at OBD's new OC and DC.

In Dan (except, perhaps, for the final game of the season plan 🤔), we trust.

Two interesting hires. Other coaches Dan has hired have gone elsewhere for bigger jobs: Dilly, Will Stein, and Tosh. Why not move on up from within? Especially when both are excellent recruiters. The grass is damn green in Eugene.

It will be interesting to compare these two promotions with Matt Campbell bringing in Penn State alum D'Anton Lynn as his DC and Riley's hiring of College Hall of Fame coach Gary Patterson to replace Lynn.

I hope the promotions are validated and that Dan, Drew, Chris, and tens of thousands of Ducks fans will flock to Las Vegas for the title game on January 25, 2027.

I know it's "counter" to the norm. But, what is the "norm" in the wild wild West of NFL-Lite. I happen to really Like this approach.

I seem to remember when DL was hired, that one of the changes made at the administration level was creation and hiring of several more "support" positions for the organization. OBD has more staff now more than ever before.

Having the luxury of multiple co-"coordinators" allows to have a multi-year "job interview" to see how these individuals adapt and succeed in this system. Obviously these individuals that come and coach at Oregon; Are having individual success just based on the growing, albeit short, coaching tree under DL.

A "BIG" name hire does Not equal guaranteed success. (Brady Hoke anyone?). And a smalltime/unknown hire, sometimes is a home run! (Chip Kelly/Dan Lanning per example).

If this transition goes smoothly and the Ducks don't miss a beat then you might just see this approach, mimicked, by other top programs in the country.

Ten-Win Dan has my confidence and hope for this program at an all time high! So, until I see "epic season fails" (and NO I do Not see the past two losses in the playoffs as "epic fails"...not even close, but that's another discussion), I shall stand by "In Dan We Trust".

Oregon Ducks Football ROCKS!

😁

In the case of Mehringer, it almost seems that he took a step down on his career path to be at Oregon. He had coached QBs, been passing game coordinator, been a WR coach and operated as as OC already. To come to Oregon to coach...tight ends?

This was a step of diversification in his career, but he was clearly taking a step down to join Oregon--to be able to take a step up later. Ditto with Hampton, as he went from a DC to a Co-DC and defensive backs coach.

I failed to look at the big picture of how they viewed this for their careers. They could have been stuck at Oregon in the role they took, but they had the confidence that their talents would be recognized and they would be elevated in the end.

Well as Dan Lanning has said, on numerous occasions, that he wants the individual success for his coaches and staff, as he does for the young men that play under his tutelage.

The burgeoning coaching tree speaks highly of this approach.

OBD rocks!

Without being in the coaches room and without any backdrop......

We could consider these promotions were made to keep them from leaving Oregon to take possible promotions at Cal and Kentucky?

Doesn't diminish that both our new DC and OC aren't extremely qualified. Remember only 2 players with remaining eligibility left for the NFL.

Those who remained knew who their OC or DC was going to be. Speaks volumes to me.

GO Ducks.......

A few other thoughts... I don't remember seeing an annoucement of the new QB or Edge coaches but frankly I have been so busy with end of semester finals and grading that it is amazing I have kept up with anything.

But... looking at the updated coaching roster shows some interesting things.

https://goducks.com/sports/football/coaches

Quarterbacks coach is Koa Ka'ai which was predicted to just get the promotion from within and it looks like the new edge coach is Kamran Araghi. both appear to be promotions from within. Lanning is certainly betting on himself and what he already has on staff.

If it doesn't work out then I could see Lanning making some big moves in terms of coaches... but I am not feeling as confident about these two position coach promotions from within. Edges didn't produce enough last year.

5 hours ago, MicroBurst61 said:

Ten-Win Dan

"Dan's baker's dozens" is Moore like it.

In regard to the new OC, it is quite telling when Sadiq thanked everyone on his way out EXCEPT Stein.

For me these promotions make sense. It's the natural next step.

DL is a type of coach players want to play for, and coaches want to be with.

I'm sure when Drew and Chris were hired they were led to believe the possibility of moving up was real.

As far as trusting DL's choices, he has proven to get the best players available regardless of who he already has, I'm sure it's the same with his coaching staff.

I will take the recruiting track record, and experience on defense, for Hampton as DC. On offensive , we are solid at QB, RB, TE, and receiver. Give me the play book and I could probably call games for at least 9 wins with this roster.

Might be a little rough running practices though.

I think that what happens behind closed doors has a lot to do with promoting from within. DL has listened to these guys break down film, and make suggestions on how to approach game situations from both of these guys.

He is satisfied, I will be content to watch. But, if they need me, I am available.

Just as a gentle reminder to this conversation, much of what is being discussed here has been in place at Oregon long before Dan Lanning was born.

Beginning with the program’s emergence during the Brooks/Bellotti era, it became increasingly apparent that much of our new success had its roots in the almost unheard of reliable longevity of its coaching staff, part of which was due to hiring from within. Not only recruits, but their coaches valued that they could rely upon the guy(s) making the pitch not going anywhere.

From that perspective, Lanning is just beginning to tap into that part of Oregon’s DNA, and building upon something long in place, the value of which he is beginning to realize is a core element of the program’s foundation and success.

What other way could he interpret the consistent, overriding message from both recruits and transfers that what they’ve found of value above all else at Oregon is a sense of family they’ve seen no where else?

Our national recognition certainly makes for higher visibility than in those earlier days, and it’s to be expected and applauded that Lanning expects and encourages his coordinators to move on to head coaching positions.

But, the media/fan driven hoopla of believing “Big Name” replacement hires is the only way to go is just that: razzle-dazzle. It’s from the consistency and trust that Oregon is built upon that makes us who we are today.

Dan gets that.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by Washington Waddler
spelling

What is interesting as well is how for recruiting...promoting our stability of coaching has become a key point. A staff that largely stays together is unheard of these days, and a big selling point in itself.

Parents of recruits can take great comfort from knowing that Dan Lanning not only implements it with his staff, but he lives it.

For me, Dan has earned trust in his coaching hires. Maybe the philosophy of the promoted coaches aligns with his vision for the future of the program.

As far as position coaches, I'm really hoping he brings in top level QB and edge coaches. With the current QBs and edges on the roster, along with competitive salaries, OBD should be able to bring in almost anybody they want and should.

Koa Ka'ai became assistant QB coach under Stein in March of 2025, so it isn't an actual change, at this point.

Bringing in a new DC or OC means that person would bring changes in the plays and systems that players and other coaches would need to learn. As it is OBD hit the ground running the day after Indiana ended their playoff run.

There’s always room for improvement. What Lanning chose to do allows for growth without disruption.

5 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

As far as position coaches, I'm really hoping he brings in top level QB and edge coaches. With the current QBs and edges on the roster, along with competitive salaries, OBD should be able to bring in almost anybody they want and should.

It looks like both were promotions from within. Iny above posting the new coaching staff roster has a QB and Edge coach listed while Stein and Lupoi are not.

I don't know how good they are as they are both young and I won't disqualify them because of youth. But Lanning is certainly betting on them over bringing in outside hires.

7 hours ago, Washington Waddler said:

Just as a gentle reminder to this conversation, much of what is being discussed here has been in place at Oregon long before Dan Lanning was born.

Beginning with the program’s emergence during the Brooks/Bellotti era, it became increasingly apparent that much of our new success had its roots in the almost unheard of reliable longevity of its coaching staff, part of which was due to hiring from within. Not only recruits, but their coaches valued that they could rely upon the guy(s) making the pitch not going anywhere.

From that perspective, Lanning is just beginning to tap into that part of Oregon’s DNA, and building upon something long in place, the value of which he is beginning to realize is a core element of the program’s foundation and success.

What other way could he interpret the consistent, overriding message from both recruits and transfers that what they’ve found of value above all else at Oregon is a sense of family they’ve seen no where else?

Our national recognition certainly makes for higher visibility than in those earlier days, and it’s to be expected and applauded that Lanning expects and encourages his coordinators to move on to head coaching positions.

But, the media/fan driven hoopla of believing “Big Name” replacement hires is the only way to go is just that: razzle-dazzle. It’s from the consistency and trust that Oregon is built upon that makes us who we are today.

Dan gets that.

Internal hires I generally think are great from a continuity point of view. I think Ka'ai being promoted to an coach was part of the reason Moore has decided to stay another year.

I think where some of the concern here for fans is that these internal hires are all super young. And there is nothing inherently wrong with promoting young coaches. It for a program like Oregon I think there is a mindset that the program should just go out and get the best of the best.

Personally... I'm not so concerned with the QB situation. Moore needs to grow and progress and a lot of that comes from experience and he'll get a whole off-season to build.

I'm more concerned with the edges. Matayo didn't produce that many sacks this year and Tuioti was fantastic but we need both players to be monsters. Are we going to get the most out of both of them via a young coach? We'll have to wait and find out.

Also ... Though I love internal promotions I'll just bring up the internal promotions during Oregon long tenure era that everyone seems to dump on for internal hires... Helfrich to HC and Pellum to DC. I've personally been on record multiple times saying that Helfrich made sense to HC and was better than most give him credit for. Pellum made sense as an internal hire that just didn't work out.

I don't know where I'm going with all this at this point. Your post got me thinking and this is just freeform thought dump.

37 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

I don't know how good they are as they are both young and I won't disqualify them because of youth.

As I wrote in the article....one is 38 and the other is 39. Lanning is 39...

Vellum on the heals of Hoke ended badly.

IMO, Helf was a good OC and QB coach, but not a good GM.

Much of the blame may well have been in a lack of evolving in a changing college football landscape, similar to how some teams got left behind by not embracing the portal.

9 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

As I wrote in the article....one is 38 and the other is 39. Lanning is 39...

I think I was referring to Ka'ai and Araghi both look very young. Probably upper 20s or low 30s.

I have no qualms about Hampton and Mehringer in terms of experience only potential execution.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by David Marsh