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Good take. But "he's bought a little bit of time". Hmmmm? Has any Oregon coach had a better record in his first four seasons than DL, now 2-2 in the two seasons of a 12-team PO? Kirby Smart is 0-2. Disappointing? Heck yes. But Dan is 4-3 playing a schedule that, by every metric, is ranked in the 20 most difficult in 2026. Playing with a backup QB instead of a preseason top-5 QB at the wheel. I don't care who is calling the plays; Oregon wins on Saturday with a healthy Dante Moore. Oregon is 1-2 vs. the top-25 and should be 2-2. 6-2 SC lost on the road to a team now ranked No. 25 and dropped from 16 to 31. Ridiculous. What coach would be better than DL? He screwed up. He lost the offseason. Fortunately, in today's portal-picking world, and after encouraging dead weight to transfer out, Dan has the resources and recruiting skills to get Oregon back in the PO hunt next season. Miami, which has played a lightweight schedule, is No. 1. 2021 was the last time Miami was on top of CFB. It's a disappointing season. It happens to every program.

The question is: which of Dan's "buddies" does he hire? He definitely has a tendency to lean on people he knows, trusts, or has some history with, and for the most part his track record doing it has been pretty damn good. So rather than just throwing out the usual list of hot coordinator names, I started going backward through Dan's career and looking at offensive coaches he has actually worked with who could fit the job. Some are realistic, some could become realistic depending on what happens over the next month, and some are obviously long shots. Mike Norvell: Probably the most interesting name on the entire list. Dan worked with Norvell at Pitt in 2011, again at Arizona State, and then Norvell was the guy who hired Dan at Memphis. Norvell is still the head coach at Florida State, but FSU is sitting at 3 and 4 and 1 and 3 in the ACC, so I don't think you can simply cross his name off because he's currently a head coach. His future at FSU is very much worth watching. If they make a change, you'd suddenly have a proven offensive coach and former Power Four head coach with a very strong personal connection to Dan sitting on the market. Chip Long: Worked with Dan at Arizona State and again at Memphis in 2016, where Long was Norvell's OC. He's also been the OC at Notre Dame, Tulane, Georgia Tech and Southern Miss. I can't find him on a current 2026 FBS coaching staff, so unlike a lot of these guys, availability wouldn't appear to be a major obstacle. His stock isn't what it was during the Notre Dame years, but he has a ton of actual play calling experience and a long history with Dan. Aaron Pflugrad: Worked with Dan at Arizona State. Pflugrad has coordinator experience from Northern Arizona, spent 2025 as Michigan State's passing game coordinator and is now the quarterbacks coach at James Madison. JMU is 7 and 1 this season. He's younger, coaches quarterbacks, has experience designing a passing game and has a direct relationship with Dan. This feels like exactly the kind of under the radar name Dan could hire and everyone would immediately understand once they looked at the connection. Chris Thomsen: Worked with Dan at Arizona State in 2013. He's currently Florida State's deputy head coach and tight ends coach and has both head coaching and offensive coordinator experience. He's spent more of his career with offensive lines and tight ends than as a pure play caller, so I wouldn't put him among my favorites. If Florida State makes wholesale staff changes, though, he could become available very quickly. Phil Longo: Was Dan's offensive coordinator at Sam Houston State in 2014. Longo later ran offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina and Wisconsin and is now the head coach at Sam Houston. The interesting part is that Sam Houston went 2 and 10 last year and is 1 and 6 right now. So while he's technically a head coach today, I would not automatically assume he'll still be one when the coaching carousel really starts. If he becomes available, there is a direct Dan connection and an enormous amount of offensive coordinator experience. Lane Kiffin: Dan spent the 2015 season at Alabama while Kiffin was running the offense. Kiffin is now the head coach at LSU, so this one is obviously in the fantasy category unless something completely bizarre happens. Still, if we're actually going through Dan's coaching history and looking at offensive coaches he worked alongside, Kiffin belongs on the list. Billy Napier: Also worked with Dan on Alabama's 2015 staff, where Napier coached receivers. Napier has been an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and head coach and is now the head coach at James Madison. JMU is 7 and 1 in his first season. That makes him extremely unlikely to leave for a coordinator job, but the connection and offensive background are both there. Kenny Dillingham: Worked with Dan at Memphis in 2016 and 2017, and Dan then hired him as his first offensive coordinator at Oregon. He's now the head coach at Arizona State, so I don't see a reunion happening. But Dillingham is probably the single best piece of evidence for the entire premise here. When Dan needed his first OC, he went directly to someone he'd already worked with and trusted. Darrell Dickey: Worked with Dan at Memphis. Dickey was assistant head coach and running backs coach in 2016 and became the OC in 2017. He's been an offensive coordinator at multiple schools and was the head coach at North Texas. He doesn't appear to be on a current coaching staff and has recently been doing football analysis around Texas A&M. He's probably not the young, splashy hire most Oregon fans would picture, but he's experienced, appears available and knows Dan personally. Ryan Silverfield: Worked with Dan at Memphis as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. He's now in his first season as the head coach at Arkansas. I don't see him leaving a new SEC head coaching job to become Oregon's OC, but he's another significant offensive connection from Dan's Memphis years. James Coley: Worked alongside Dan at Georgia in 2018 and 2019. Coley was co OC and quarterbacks coach in 2018 and became Georgia's OC in 2019. He's now back at Georgia coaching wide receivers. He's also coordinated offenses at Miami and has a long recruiting résumé. His one season as Georgia's primary OC is going to be the obvious concern, but he's currently in a position Oregon could realistically hire him away from and he has a substantial history with Dan. Buster Faulkner: Worked with Dan at Georgia in 2020 and 2021 while Faulkner was on the offensive staff and Dan was running the defense. Faulkner spent the next three seasons as Georgia Tech's OC, was named the 2025 FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year and is now Florida's OC. Florida is currently 5 and 2. He's an experienced quarterback coach and play caller, his résumé is trending up rather than down, and he already knows Dan. To me, he's one of the strongest realistic names on the entire list. Todd Monken: Worked alongside Dan at Georgia in 2020 and 2021, with Monken running the offense and Dan running the defense. They won a national championship together. Monken became the Cleveland Browns head coach in January, so this one is basically impossible. But from the standpoint of offensive coaches Dan knows and respects, he's obviously part of the tree. Cortez Hankton: Worked with Dan throughout Dan's four years at Georgia. Hankton coached receivers there, then went to LSU, where he became passing game coordinator and eventually co OC. He's now Ohio State's wide receivers coach. That makes this one especially interesting because Oregon could potentially offer him a genuine step up, full offensive coordinator responsibility and possibly the opportunity to call plays. He has the Dan relationship, SEC and Big Ten experience, high end recruiting chops and experience helping coordinate elite passing offenses. This one makes a lot of sense. Jim Chaney: Was Georgia's offensive coordinator during Dan's first season there in 2018. Chaney has also coordinated offenses at Purdue, Tennessee, Arkansas and Pitt and is currently the offensive coordinator at Georgia State. He has about as much play calling experience as anyone on this list and would presumably be obtainable. The question would be whether Dan wants that kind of veteran coordinator or somebody younger with more upside. Junior Adams: Spent three seasons on Dan's Oregon staff as wide receivers coach and co OC before leaving for the NFL. He's now in his second season coaching receivers for the Dallas Cowboys. He already knows the program, players, recruiting footprint and Dan's expectations. Convincing him to leave the NFL might be difficult, but becoming Oregon's full offensive coordinator would be a substantially different job than the one he left. Ra'Shaad Samples: Already on Dan's staff as assistant head coach and running backs coach. He previously coached in the NFL with the Rams and was Arizona State's passing game coordinator before coming to Oregon. He's young, considered an excellent recruiter and is obviously someone Dan thinks highly of. The question is experience. Giving him full control of the offense and play calling duties would be a major promotion. Ross Douglas: Currently Oregon's wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. He previously held the same role at Syracuse and coached receivers for the New England Patriots. He's another young coach Dan clearly values and he's already involved in Oregon's passing game. Like Samples, though, promoting him to full OC and primary play caller would be a pretty significant leap. So who knows which direction Dan actually goes, but I think the larger point is that the list of legitimate possibilities gets a lot more interesting once you stop looking only at the obvious national names and start looking at the people he already knows. His history says familiarity and trust matter to him, especially with coordinators. I would not be surprised at all if the eventual hire is somebody most people barely mention at first, then five minutes after the announcement everyone looks at the connection and says, "Yeah, that actually makes perfect sense."

Not yet anyway. He has earned a lot more leeway then one bad half season. What makes this worse is the attitude that anything short of a Natty is a bust. I get that it's what we all want, but I still love seeing us play each Sat. So here's hoping whoever calls plays for the balance of the season does a great job. We can still play spoiler for the NW and tOSU, not to mention destroying the purple dawgs! Is Dante coming back soon? Like today! 🤞

I'd be shocked if Dan were fired. He is recruiting too well and has made the playoff twice in the last two years. And like you said he is addressing the biggest problems of this roster. I think if he makes the right hires and uses the portal effectively (which he usually does) then the Ducks are right back on track.

Not sure about Slade Nagle. Not a ton of significant OC experience, his resume kind of resembles Mehringer's where there's a bunch of positional experience at a bunch of stops with a bit of OC at a couple spots. The only difference being that he's shown some success at Houston so far as the OC last season and this season. But those results are so short that it's difficult to say if he really has the ability to elevate a top 5 team's offense or he's simply a high floor/lower ceiling guy.

Nothing to play for... really only applies to us fans. Players want to play. This is their whole life right now. What they have to play for is to win games. That is enough. But if the offensive side of the ball still continues to be a non-factor, then the team could give up and feel that it has all become useless. This is why they need to make changes now. This should have been done after the Ok ST game. What is getting under my skin now is that mediocre teams are celebrating beating the Ducks. They did not come up to our level, we went down to there's.

The Duck haters are out in droves…anyone who thinks Lanning is on the hot seat is full of crap, period, end of story. The Ducks will be fine. This is just a bump, albeit a big one in the road. Much work to be done but the Lanning haters are going to eat their words. The Ducks will be in the mix next year. We have sucked and lost three games by 21 points. We have played horribly and we have still been in all the games. The biggest issue is being tended to. Patience is required.

In the post game presser Coach Stubbs said he had been cleared Friday by the NCAA. There's been solid improvement each game. Like Stubbs said "baby steps". The bench looks really deep, and if they can remember it's a team game and share the ball, I think they could have a decent season. Cool to see "The Little Bluejay" helping out. (Shout out to "The Big Redhead"!)

I went through a concussion a few years ago from being rear ended by another car when I stopped for deer in the road. I felt OK at first, then 15 minutes later, it hit me. As I was recovering the next few weeks, it got worse and my head was a mess and sleep was hard to get. I was in a fog for a long time, but I eventually got back to normal. Dante was down on the ground after his hit. That is a sign that it is real bad. A lot of concussions creep up on you. His was right away. He didn't even sit up. He just layed on the ground. That is a lot of head trauma to the brain. Not just the hit, but also the rebound of the helmet going back and hitting the ground. I think equal chance he comes back before regular season ends or doesn't. He can't be out there before ready or D linemen will break him in half. Then if Ducks keep losing and O line play is suspect, there may not be a reason to bring him back. Let DR play and see if he looks like he could start next year.

That would be a solid get as long as he fits the culture, can work with Dan, wants to move to Oregon, wants to be an OC and is being hired because he's the right guy for the team not just the only guy available at the time. I'm just dreading the promote from within for an intern OC for the rest of the year route. I don't follow football close enough to know who's not under contract this time of year but if there's no one qualified that wants the job right now bringing in a stop gap guy for the rest of the year would be better than a RB or WR coach, that's already been tried. Calming the locker room and making sure there's not a ton of guys running to the portal is the number one priority. Team discipline is at an all-time low and Dan needs help fast.

I doubt Helf is on the interim list...

What type of offense is Stein running at UK this year? I believe I have seen perimeter screens as run game extensions and RPO's but am not sure how different the system might be to our offensive offense?

The team played very well today against Stanford and won by 25. Payne looked like a different player. Ewin played, so maybe he is eligible now?? That would be huge, because he was excellent on the glass today. This team needs him badly.

I believe nothing to play for is an interesting statement. You play to win football games. And there are still 5 on the schedule. This will definitely show the culture Dan has built. It's easy to buy in and be a tam player when you win 80+% of your games. Now we see what happens when that is not the case. Do players leave for greener pastures when things are sideways. Or stay and be part of the solution. Time will tell.

Again valid points. Let me be blunt. We were not going to win a title this year. Didn't matter if Nick Saban, Ryan Day, Curt Cignetti or Kirby Smart was coaching. This group does not perform at the level required to win a title. At their best. There is ONE player along the line of scrimmage (both sides) on par with the Elite talent nationwide. One. I've watched Texas, Ohio St, Indiana, Georgia, and Miami this year. We don't measure up and that is the cream. We had problems with Iowa and Wisconsin last year. We don't have the players. It's pretty simple. You can stem the tide, but you can't stop the tide. That is where we are.

I don't know about that. There will be a lot of high level teams looking for an OC at the end of the year. The sooner we can find someone the better. Someone like Locksley the HC for Maryland that was a Natty OC at Bama was just fired. A situation like that could be advantageous for us looking. I think Douglas will be interim OC.

Well in that case it ain't rat poison either, but it's unpredictable how players will handle it. Some will resent being on this team and be on the way out of they aren't NFL bound next year. Some will take advantage of the opportunity to make name for themselves with the upheaval, but they will probably use that to jump ship here. I'm struggling to be positive here, but this damage is like an ACL tear. We are out for the season and hoping to make full recovery by next year.

With all due respect, I was wrong, Lanning has the 6th rated blue-chip talent composite three years ago. If Lanning doesn't have a top five group of players that's squarely on him and his staff's development of those players. Lanning has lacked for nothing when it comes to facilities, support, NIL or his own paycheck. When I look at these roster blue-chip charts below it is shocking how Lanning's teams have gotten so dismantled by OSU and Indiana in the last two playoffs, we didn't look competitive. We showed up and didn't look ready to play, were out coached, and looked light years from winning a Natty. We have the #3 rated roster for this season and just lost to the 51st ranked roster with a backup Frosh QB making his first start, in what world is that not unacceptable? Hamptons defense gave up 225 rushing yards to a one-dimensional team; I haven't even dug into the critical analysis of that debacle since I'm having a 2022 Beavers comeback win PST event. I'm not asking the guy to win it all, but he sure the hell shouldn't be getting run out of the playoffs in embarrassing style with all the resources he has behind him. He should be in the playoffs every year and competitive if he gets bounced, there is no shame in that. This season's regression will pass but he needs to do better than he has been at Oregon. The question going forward is what offensive scheme Lanning is going to run going forward and what is he going to do to address not being remotely competitive against elite teams in the playoffs. Those are fair questions when you have a coach with a $56.7 million buyout, top facilities, a huge NIL budget, and an Elite roster every year-the excuses run out on why you're getting blown out in the playoffs and why this year's team has tanked. I'm sure Phil has been on the phone to Mullens these same questions, there has been historical investment made in Lanning's Program-and the ROI is unacceptable. Oregon has gone all in on Lanning in every way and he signed the guaranteed contract deal, its' on him to deliver excellence for kind of coin.

Terrific post, Mike, thanks. Miami's O has played extremely well against nothing-burger competition. No. 14 (?) Wake Forest that won in double OT at Purdue shut down the Miami O in the 2nd half of the game in Winston-Salem. Miami's D was shredded by FSU and former Stanford and Auburn QB Ashton Daniels. A terrible holding call against FSU prevented the game from going into the 3rd OT. Phil Steele ranks Miami's SOS as the 61st most 'difficult' in the nation. Steele ranks Oregon's SOS the 20th most difficult. With Miami's schedule, I think Oregon would still be in the PO hunt. Very few people thought Oregon's schedule would be difficult before playing at Ohio State. Wrong. No. 21 Northwestern's SOS is ranked 14th by Steele. No team is being screwed over by the coaches and the AP voters more than NW. Six 2-loss SEC teams with 'worse losses' than NW's loss at No. 4 Indiana by two points are ranked ahead of 1-loss Northwestern. The AP Poll is ridiculously SEC-centric. USC loses to No. 25 Wisconsin on the road and drops from 16 to 31. Iowa loses a rivalry game on the road to a 2-loss Minnesota team and drops from 15 to 26. Roster rankings are based on recruiting and portal rankings that are a best guess. Texas WR Cam Coleman, with Archie throwing to him, was going to replace J. Smith as the best WR in CFB, right? This was the same guy who dropped close to 10% of the passes thrown to him while playing for Auburn. CFB SOS varies significantly nationally and within P4 conferences and is not properly calculated; ditto for roster rankings. I see no viable coaching candidate who, in his first four seasons, would have won more games than Dan Lanning. Would have defeated Ohio State in Eugene in 2024 and kept the regular-season game against Indiana in 2025 within one TD. Oregon was blown out in the Rose Bowl and in the Peach Bowl by teams with better talent who were better prepared by more experienced head coaches. Ditto for the two losses to UW in 2023. Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi were on hand in 2024 and 2025. Thank you for making note of the roster rankings. Oregon has a talented roster but not on the level of Ohio State or Georgia. To be a CFB champ today, a team has to win 3 or 4 games in a row against top competition. The quality of contending teams' rosters and the depth of the rosters will be tested. I think Miami had a better roster, especially on defense last season, and lost two regular-season games. Perhaps Ryan Day should be fired? After winning a championship in 2024, before defeating Indiana by a foot in Week 7 of this season, Day was 0-3 in the last three games vs. ranked opponents. This is with better talent than Dan has on hand. Perhaps Mario would have brought similar talent to Eugene, but would he have won more games? In the ACC, Mario has a superior roster advantage. The kind of advantage Riley had at Oklahoma. Every person and every entity suffers misfortune. How you and they respond is what matters.

Sorry, my remark about “haters” was misconstrued. I meant people outside this forum especially media figures who are biased towards the Ducks. I was not referring to anyone on this or other OBD threads. My apologies if needed.

55 Whole years? Pffffft! Mere child's play. I sat through seasons where I was sometimes one of 4-5 fans in the east end zone, at times. Those first few seasons at Autzen were painful. Rich Brooks was a godsend, in some ways, after years of Jerry Frei, Dick Enright, and Don Read. The murderers row of future HOF coaches who passed through the coaching tree under Frei is frustrating to ponder. If Lanning can build that sort of group moving forward, with the sort of talent he seems to have the ability on the team, the future could be amazing. GO DUCKS!

"Getting ready for Northwestern...." Nov. 23, 2025: Chip Kelly was fired as the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator after a disappointing 2-9 start to the season. The decision came following a 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, marking the sixth game this year where the Raiders failed to score at least 20 points. Kelly, who joined the Raiders after winning a national title as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, struggled to improve the team’s offense, which ranked near the bottom of the league in scoring, total yards, and red zone efficiency. This marks the second midseason firing of an offensive coordinator for the Raiders in consecutive years. Luke Getsy was fired in Nov. 2024.

I am not happy this yr.. I am absolutely pro Dan Lanning and doubt we could have hired a better coach at the time or for these time.. I hope he will hire hire experienced assistants and coordinators... I hope our booster are strong enough to realize that in today's world of Nil, money talks. We are in Oregon thankfully, but not LA or Atlanta or Dallas etc... we just may have to pay more... Location Location.

I was only using AI as there are very few people available to come in and help this year as everyone you'd really want is under contract and will be unavailable till the end of the year. A OC/QB coach is needed to preserve the rest of the season and in doing so preventing as many of the talented skill posting players from leaving via portal. After the end of the season go get the best you can find.

The Duck is resting up a bit, prior to beginning a new push-up regimen... everybody needs a break once in a while!