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Grade the Dan Lanning Hire…

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I give the hire an

A-

 

Pretty solid lots of upside

id rather probably have had Lane and that’s about it.

 

Overall I’m a pretty happy duck fan tonight.

 

What is your letter grade for this hire? 

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D+

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Can I get an extension and post my grade in a couple of years?

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A, if gets a great OC, he gets an A+

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B.  He has zero ties in the PNW or on the left coast, perhaps increasing the risk that he'll bolt sooner than later

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I give it an A. I would have liked Oregon to hire somebody like Matt Campbell but I actually like this more because Dan Lanning will continue the physical style of play that Oregon has been playing. Also, he seems to be a great recruiter which is important for Oregon.

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On 12/11/2021 at 5:53 PM, Bruce3404 said:

B.  He has zero ties in the PNW or on the left coast, perhaps increasing the risk that he'll bolt sooner than later

Great reasoning for the grade.


There is definitely a chance we are looking for a coach again in 3-4 years, if he does well and heads back down south. 
 

But that’s a chance I’m willing to take! 

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A, looking to give him an A+ once we get the OC, DC and assistants. 

 

The big thing is integrity and coaching skill. The guy has both and that is all I wanted. He will get all the support he needs, and is the type of guy who will accept help. Glad we didn't hire a suspect coach, or somebody who has a checkered past. Like most coaches, we hope he does have people trying to pry him away.

 

I imagine he answered some questions pretty well to get the nod. I trust Mullens makes him a pretty tight contract.  I also trust the guy who ok'd him, pretty good track record.

 

 

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B......no head coaching experience......not from the west coast.......but......its a good hire.........upcoming guy who could excite recruits, has a good resume with experience working for some great coaches,  who knows the X and O's and partnered with an offense guy could be great. His first test will be holding on to as many in this class as possible and getting a few OL and DL recruits. Either way......watching will be fun next year. 

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I will give it an A. From what I saw with the Bulldogs this year the man can lock down opponents. Recruiting is sales, a good salesman can sell anywhere any time. Oregon is a top product. Going to come down to staff. Shouldn't be a problem at Oregon. Oregon is a place where assistant coaches go to get a promotion. Get 5 years out of Lanning and I am happy with that.

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Current grade: a thank you card sent to Miami 

With the right hires: A thank you card with a sincere “bless your heart” sent to Miami boosters

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Results is all that matter. Grading day 1 is unless. 

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On 12/11/2021 at 6:13 PM, fred flintstone said:

not from the west coast

Spent a few years working with ASU in his early coaching career. Not a ton of expirence but at the same time the recruiting coordinator for Oregon is not leaving and is a west coast guy. 

 

He may need to hire some west coast connected coaches but I don't see that has a huge deal breaker.

 

MC wasn't from the west coast and he seemed to recruit daily well. 

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C  No head coach experience and I think PK said he was done throwing Big $$ -told Mullens to do his thing, work within his budget.

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Out the gate... 

 

I'm going with an A- 

 

Solid hire, tons of upside but it will depend on who he surrounds himself with. Oregon will not have much of a staff staying. I think Big Joe is about it at the moment... Maybe BMac but everyone else is leaving by the look of it. 

 

So Lanning will have to hire some quality coaches. 

 

I do think it counters the Riley hire at USC though. Oregon is also in a better place than USC in terms of the current roster.

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A-/B+

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A in youth

A in coaching ability

A in energy

A in track record

A in players love for this guy

The rest I will Waite on till he picks his coaching staff and how well he does with this recruiting class and transfers witch could be huge.

 

go 🦆🦆🦆s

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Per articles and interviews I listened to with those close to him, I rate the hire an A+.  More amped for spring ball this year than this time last year.

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Recruiting: A+

Head Coaching Chops: Incomplete 

Offensive Ability: Incomplete

Defensive Ability: B (not very good vs passing offenses, will have trouble with USC)

Ability to Hire Competent staff: Incomplete

 

One thing I have learned is that good recruiters can talk their way into a head coaching job. 

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Been going on a while.

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A+. Oregon needs a total flush of its coaching culture. Clean feathers. I don't ever want to see sideline stupidity and pretense again.

Edited by toketeeman
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I think he will do well.  A grade.

 

I also think Mullins did a very good job getting the hire reasonably quickly and in an honorable manner.

 

our Head coach tenure for the last four averages 3.25 years.  I expect Dan Lanning to make it 5 years.  Hope I am able to see that.

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I think it was a good hire.  He checks most of the boxes most importantly he has fire in his belly, he is a hard worker, the coaches he’s worked for sing his praises, and his players like playing for him.

 

I gotta believe he will do fine at Oregon with all the support and amenities that are available.  I am more than willing to trust in OBD and our system of supporting student athletes to usher Coach Lansing into becoming the coach we deserve.

 

Lets give him the chance, support him while he grows, and see if we can give him the A+ a year from now.

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I'm excited about this hire. I think he has a ton of upside. His lack of HC experience is somewhat concerning.

He seems like a solid character, I like his energy. I think it will be reflected on the field.

My grade? I'll give him a B for now. Great OC and DC will raise it to an A.

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On 12/11/2021 at 7:06 PM, VegasDuck said:

Results is all that matter. Grading day 1 is unless. 

Totally agree.  But nobody says the grade can't change...

 

Based on everything we know so far, I would give B+, for youth, coaching excellence and recruiting reputation.   But the lack of HC exp and PNW connection are big ?

 

If he lands a good OC and manages to savage our 2022 class, then I will upgrade it to A-.

 

If he delivers next season and leads us to back to Pac-12 champ, then I will happily hand him an A.    If playoff, then A+.

Edited by DuckFan93
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He’s a winner good hire he’ll recruit great coaches too ! LET’S GO DUCKS. footnote kick Alabama’s butt 

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B+

That grade is based on the risk involved due to lack of head coach experience.  An A for me would have been someone that's already coaching a high level program and killing it (i.e. Riley for USC).  That said, I have a feeling within 2 years I will be changing my grade to A+.  

 

When CK was hired, I had the same feeling that I have now....that he was going to change Oregon football and get the Ducks to the next level.  When MC and Helfrich were hired I didn't get that feeling at all.  Both Helfrich and MC felt like lazy hires.  Specifically with MC, I never felt like he was really ever a Duck. 

 

I found myself wondering if Bama fans feel that way about Saban but that is just the way it is when you get a coach that runs the team like a corporation and doesn't really embrace the community/fanbase.  If they win natty's every other year then its easy to look past...when you get embarrassed by Utah week after week, not so much.  With Taggart I think he would have been good if he stuck around because he had a good staff and the Ducks would have continued to have a prolific offense

 

 

.  Once he left, that left us with MC who continued to recruit great players but couldn't coach X's and O's...or at least get the heck out of the way of the coaches that could.

 

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A-

 

Especially after “adjusting the curve” given what Oregon was left with in terms of late timing/ability to groom a hire process (e.g. USC) and lock up’s of many options.   Our reality of available hires was much less  than people give credit for…The “ I woulda rather had Fickell or Matt Campbell…” those guys were not leaving for ANYWHEREright now given their situations.  No team had a “choice” to hire them. So don’t hold UO accountable to have not hired them.

 

Think back to the day Mario left.  The betting odds were Wilcox, Chip,  Sitake.  UW had to settle on a 1 year HC at Fresno State.  I am sooooo much happier we have a Lanning and not any of those. UO chose right on the concept of winning with monster upside vs choosing mediocrity with a local guy/re-tread.  This comes with the cost of guys not staying a decade.  But besides the Bama job, that is the new Reality everywhere.


Was concerned on the head coaching experience, but not anymore given what every football person connected to him has said about his talents, relationship building, recruiting, X’s and O’s.  
 

Thrilled.

 

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Ask me in a couple of years.  I'm in no position to evaluate this hire today.

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B

 

But given the situation, I think that's probably all we could expect.  The hire had to be done quickly or the whole recruiting class could be lost, along with current players.  The job opened after a lot of the coaching movement was already done or guys like James Franklin had gotten locked up with new contracts.  And yes, he's really young, a defensive specialist, could bolt back down south again in a few years, and has no HC experience.  All gambles.  Of course, consider some of the other options that were discussed...

  • Urban Meyer - huge previous success, but huge baggage and health problems
  • Wilcox - would probably be a lifer if he had success, but not exactly a tremendous track record at Cal
  • Lane Kiffen - great recruiter and coaching mind but a known mercenary who was highly unlikely to stay long
  • Chip Kelly - great history at Oregon, but hates recruiting and has a mediocre-to-poor record post-Oregon
  • Aranda - looks real promising but only a couple of years experience as a HC, so still a bit of an unknown factor

We could keep going.  Basically unless we hired Saban there would be questions (and even with Saban, with his age how long will he keep coaching?).

 

So yes, it's a gamble, but everyone we could have hired would have been a gamble.  It's just a matter of what's the potential upside you get from the gamble, and what factors are you willing to gamble on?

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A.

 

Outstanding character, outstanding recruiter,  young and enthusiastic, trained under some of the best.   Everybody he has worked for thinks he is an incredible young man who will do great things. 

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I give the hire a C only because there are very few Guys out there who I consider A hires. Those are the guys like Saban and Dabo.

 

The B hires are the guys with experience who have had success but no national championship. B hires could also be guys who have taken bad teams out of the cellar (see Jonathan Smith).

 

I consider a C hire to be unproven, but with great potential. Also, guys who have been in a bad situation could be C hires as well. Manny Diaz would fall into this category.

 

D hires are guys who have been given great situations but couldn’t  get it done.

 

F hires are the ones with zero integrity who will get you put on probation.

 

Remember, this is just my opinion. I could be swayed through convincing arguments.

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A...

 

 

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A+
 

I, for one, am thrilled we went w a name I had never heard of. (Although I had never heard DL’s name, I was certainly familiar w his work—even better.)

 

We should all want PK and RM to know more about ncaa football coaches than we do. All the names I knew sounded like tired, sloppy seconds, Brady Hokes. 

 

MC was absolutely the right HC for the time. The players wanted stability, and RM listened. 

 

Now that we have stabilized, we want elite. DL is an elite defensive mind and elite recruiter. He has yet to be mediocre, unlike the rest of the pool. So sign me up…

 

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