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The fact that DL found Dilly and Stein in consecutive hires proves that he knows how to find great coaching talent. I think this time around his devotion to "loyalty and working your way up" (like he did during his career) overrode what worked at these critical positions. That devotion isn't a bad thing and is very admirable however he can step in and help the DC if they're struggling like he obviously did with Hampton. But he doesn't have that ability to help on the other side of the ball and should've been more cognizant of that.

My ooinion is on record. Nothing will improve while DL is at the helm. I'd love to be wrong, but...

It all works until it hits a critical mass and all falls apart. And this year all that youth and inexperience and ineptitude couldn't be covered up anymore.

Lot of Duck haters out there. I ignore them. How this will work out is not yet known, but it is not the best situation. Let’s see what happens with the upcoming recruiting classes. I actually believe this firing will help since recruits are not stupid and have seen the train wreck under this OC.

In hoops, after someone makes a couple nice shots, they can feel like they are in the zone and test that theory by launching one deep which is called a heat check. Usually this will just clank off the rim and bring them down to reality. I think we just saw that with Lanning having to fire Coach Meh after one of the most inept offensive performances in recent memory. It's hard to blame Lanning's logic because every shot he had fire up (coaching hire) was nothing but money. But all the under qualified hires on offense were like launching it from half court and watching a horrible air ball sail out of bounds. OK, lesson learned. Back to playing with focus and discipline. So what now? Does he look for a top notch Xs and Os guy that maybe isn't the best recruiter and hopes the UO can recruit itself at this point? Does it matter that a top level guy doesn't exactly align with his own offensive vision? Should they go get look for someone sooner rather than later to hold the team together or does that matter? It feels like the easy part has already happened now time for the tricky part to begin.

Done

I agree with you. Good coaches absolutely must hire great coaches. Dan had both Dillingham and then Stein. These guys did some great stuff. With the right coaching staff around him, Lanning is a good coach. Whether or not he has the stuff it takes to become a great coach, definitely remains to be seen.

Baylor just fired their coach...

Pretty predictable article and of course correct. The hangover from the bad hiring decisions will extend to the off season at minimum. But now that he's finally done the hard part (firing Merhinger), he can start the course correction and get things ready for a steady comeback season next year.

I have to fundamentally disagree with this. Leading the team to consecutive CFP appearances and a semi-final game doesn't exactly scream "worst coach with the most wins". There are definitely other coaches at winning programs that are far worse than DL. He messed up a coordinator hire and now he's attempting to rectify it. Bad timing but it happens even with the best teams. My two cents.

USA Today: Oregon is College Football’s Biggest Fraud. Dan Lanning Owns This Mess Ouch... talk about a painful read... painful, but IMHO, mostly accurate. Sadly, this is more than likely just the beginning as it's going to take a while to turn our badly listing ship around. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/10/25/oregon-ducks-football-dan-lanning-will-stein-offensive-coordinator-flop-disappointment/92330820007/

How he handles the interview and hiring processes for the new OC will be telling. It'll be his one shot to truly show that he's learned his lesson and taking these sorts of hires seriously.

Firing the OC saves Lanning for how long? This season is a mess, but predictable if you bothered taking off your "duck colored lenses". Lanning has never had the cofidence or skill to lead a top team anywhere, and if you've been paying attention it shows. No matter what happens with DL I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to start all over again. DL's legacy as the worst coach with the most wins is nearly cemented.

Stone, cold, brutal... and yet, both well deserved and hilarious.

My guess is that they elevate someone from the current staff to be the interim OC and playcaller, and find an experienced ex-HC/OC as an analyst/consultant to help the rest of the season (scheming, game planning, play design). Hopefully, Coach Lanning learns from his mistake and does a formal national search for the OC position. It shouldn’t matter if the new OC runs a similar offensive scheme but he should have an impressive track record. Also, let him build his own staff and bring in his own transfer players.

From dumpster fire to setting the sport on fire, it just shows what solid coaching hires can do.

Oregonian https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2026/10/oregon-football-fires-offensive-coordinator-drew-mehringer.html

Lanning doesn't have anywhere near a 'clean slate' right now. However, he did buy himself a little bit of time, and he now has the opportunity to show everybody if he has the right stuff to turn this thing around.

My hope is that Lanning hasn't lost the locker room. Sure felt like the defense had a "What's the point" moment yesterday. Dan is a good lead man. Firing Meh', in my mind gives Lanning a clean slate. Let's go out and ruin some seasons for others. Starting with NU

The OL play seems to have gotten consistently worse the last three years. This year, awful. Agree with posters about the offensive (pun intended) coaching needs a reboot top to bottom.

Agree. Still 100% in on Lanning on my end. He made 1 bad decision. He made the right decision this morning when he fired Mehringer. Give him a chance to fix it.

And Cliffy's interception was good!

Dyer was down…

Lanning opting to take field goal attempts over going for it on fourth is also very telling that faith in this offense was shot. Fourth and one at goal... And a field goal is not Lanning and not what Lanning would have wanted to do. I applaud him for taking the field goal as that was the right thing to do. The two field goal attempts at 50+ yards was Lanning taking the risk for points rather than the risk for likely nothing. Those were desperation field goal attempts. If the game plan starts to factor in 50+ yard field goals your game plan is fundamentally broken... And it was. Defense broken yesterday and they were on the field for too darn long yet again. Also the offense should have absolutely put up more than 10 points which gives the defense breathing room if they are playing with a lead.