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Has Dan The Man reached his ceiling? I don't know. Is the Oregon offense predictable? You be the judge. Might as well call Andy Ludwig back to call sideline passes for no gain...

Lengthy Monday media press conference, quotes: Oregon Ducks On SIDan Lanning Promises Oregon Changes During Tense ExchangeThe Oregon Ducks’ second loss in five games has raised a plethora of questions about the program’s preparation and the job security of members of the coaching s

I think we are seeing that the masterminds behind Oregon's success over the last 3 years were due to talent and the COs.

Damned by Faint Praise? Oregon Ducks On SIOregon Coach Dan Lanning Makes His Stance On Dylan Raiola...EUGENE - Oregon coach Dan Lanning used a simple metaphor to explain the Ducks’ quarterback competition. "Football is is like renting a house. It's not owning a

Not every player is ready to play coming out of high school. But in this case it makes you wonder if they weren't coached up enough. Jack Smith a new coach (at least very young) and tight end has regressed this season. Terry has a mounting record against him at this point that he has done well with transfers coming in and done well with special players who seem to figure things out themselves but he has a TON of players on the roster who aren't developed enough to play. I've been hesitant to call for heads in the past but now I have enough evidence from where I sit.

Agreed. When all your hires have gone so well....it is natural to begin to believe that you make better decisions that anyone else. So this set-back is part of going with a young coach who is still learning...and he will.

UCLA pre-game:

Bravo! While I feel that the Ducks just don't have the internal options at their disposal to pull off a mid season change, I think the research put into this post was outstanding!

No one other than Curt Cignetti. 😁

David, you didn't want to write it, but I'm happy that you were driven, despite the sword, to do so. Thank you! The truth hurts, but it's time for Lanning to look in the mirror. Complacency was this offseason's watchword and is now this season's nemesis. David, you nailed the coaching and scheme issues; how about player evaluation issues? Everyone who pays attention to the program knew that four starting O-linemen had to be replaced. One player was signed out of the portal, a player from the FCS Ivy League. Before he disappeared, he briefly won a starting spot. Unfortunately, two touted OL recruits and a touted TE recruit are not ready for B1G time football. If you cannot run the ball, you will not win most Power 4 football games. Perhaps too much money went to retain NFL talent on the D-line? Talent that seems to have suffered senioritis-driven overconfidence. As poorly as the Oregon offense played against UCLA, the team's reliable kicker, after a great effort from Evan Stewart, tied the game with an extra point. Brock Thomas is playing well at QB, and the UCLA D is also gassed and down to its second-string QB. In OT, Oregon wins the ... But Wait A Minute! For some inexplicable, unjustifiable, going-against-the-analytics reason, Oregon goes for two after its first score. Why? Especially with a backup QB in the game. My biggest concern? Dan Lanning seems incapable of learning from his mistakes. Bitten on off-the-wall in-game decisions, but never twice shy. And a visit to Seahawks HQ did nothing to help with another meltdown after a bye week. New to the Power 4, Bob Chesney is 1-and-1 in Autzen Stadium, and a once-dismal UCLA team is ranked 12th in the AP Poll. We all make mistakes. Goodness knows that I have made more than enough. But most of us learn from our mistakes. I'll give Dan some slack for playing a much more difficult schedule than anticipated. Four out of five games were played against currently ranked AP Top-25 teams. I do question whether Dan has the moxie to take Oregon to a title. Hubris seems to be getting in the way of common sense decisions. Learned folks on the Forum have pointed out deficiencies in the systems being used on both sides of the ball. Can't Dan read a stat sheet? Of course, it doesn't matter what I think, but what big boosters think does matter. Husk the Huskers!

Lanning has absolutely made great hires. I keep going back to the idea here that he has become complacent and comfortable with those within his staff and has not looked outside. He wants to keep the good thing going but with every coach that leaves he promotes a young coach from within is a net loss in experience. I think most of these young guys Lanning has promoted may yet turn into great coaches but is Oregon the place for them to cut their teeth in these expanded position roles? I don't think so. And at the end of the day each of these promotions from within with inexperience has finally hit a critical mass. There is too much inexperience (or lack of ability) to hide anymore and everything is coming undone. It's clear Lanning is upset with this turn of events. He doesn't want to throw his guys under the bus, nor should he, and no one is getting fired until the end of the season. But we saw what an expirenced and veteran staff can do with scheme and the transfer portal.... Indiana built a program quickly and managed to win it all with the right talent. Lanning has made some great hires and he just needs to do that again. One of the popular names right now for Lanning to go get is Norvell as OC (when it seems he is inevitably fired at FSU). That could be a great get for the offense. But Lanning needs to go out and get some experienced coaches from outside the program.

Why? Has he shown much promise? I missed the spring game.

While mid-season coaching changes are often an act of desperation, several notable college football programs have successfully turned their seasons around by switching offensive coordinators or play-callers midway through the year. 1. Boise State Broncos (2022) The Change: Following a historic and sluggish 27-10 upset loss to UTEP in Week 4, Boise State fired offensive coordinator Tim Plough. Head coach Andy Avalos elevated former NFL and college head coach Dirk Koetter from analyst to interim offensive coordinator. The Improvement: The transformation was immediate. Koetter completely restructured the offensive approach, leaning heavily into a power-running identity and starting dynamic freshman quarterback Taylen Green. Prior to the change, the Broncos ranked 106th in the country in rushing (120.2 yards per game). Under Koetter, that metric jumped significantly as the team vaulted 40 spots in the national rankings. Boise State rattled off wins in seven of their next eight games, went undefeated in regular-season Mountain West play (8-0), and capped the turnaround with a 35-32 victory over North Texas in the Frisco Bowl. 2. Wisconsin Badgers (2012) The Change: Just two games into the 2012 season—and following a highly scrutinized, uncharacteristic performance against Oregon State where the offense generated only 7 points—head coach Bret Bielema fired offensive line coach and co-offensive planner Mike Markuson. The Improvement: The decision directly impacted the team's identity. Matt Canada took full control of the play-calling parameters and simplified the blocking assignments. The offensive line play dramatically improved overnight. The rushing attack—featuring a historic backfield of Montee Ball, James White, and Melvin Gordon—unlocked its full potential. The mid-season course correction allowed Wisconsin to secure a spot in the Big Ten Championship game, where they completely dominated Nebraska 70-31 to secure a Rose Bowl berth. 3. California Golden Bears (2026) The Change: Stagnating heavily with an offense averaging just 18.3 points against FBS opponents, Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi executed a sudden mid-game change at halftime during their matchup against UNLV. Lupoi stripped offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville of play-calling duties and promoted passing game coordinator Pat McCann into the live role. The Improvement: While the change occurred in a tight loss to the Rebels, the strategic adjustment quickly allowed quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and the rest of the unit to work out of a more balanced scheme, sparking immediate improvements in drive efficiency and playbook variance during the subsequent weeks of the season.

JDuck Great post. I agree that Lanning has had some great coaches on his staff. The problem is a lot of them have left for promotions and have been replaced with guys with far more recruiting chops than actual coaching experience before joining the staff.

Oregon sending a lot to the NFL lately, 4/5 star talent must be getting some coaching up to do that. Nobody wins the natty without a blue chip roster, recruiting is key to that. Coaching the synergy to put those talented players in a position to play as a championship caliber TEAM is the missing piece. Lanning's overall record as a HC is pretty good, we won 2 playoff games last year. Injuries late season were terrible, but...teams have figured us out and it's mostly on poor coaching. I don't know if DL is the right guy to do X and O but neither was/is Mari, Miami is on the verge now because Mari hired a great staff (and he is a superb recruiter too like DL) and Mari learned to let his staff (and coordinators primarily) scheme the wins. Mari won the locker room (remember the team petitioning for him after Taggart bailed?). Lanning is a guy who can win the locker room ("they're playing for clicks...") and be the "CEO" but a good CEO has a good team of assistants running the operations

Lanning needs to leverage the resources at his disposal and surround himself by verified talent. Oregon is a destination job opportunity. He should be conducting a national coaching search for every high end position on the staff. Promotions from within should only come after it is abundantly clear the person in line deserves the promotion. They should have other high end job offers on the table to prove their worth as well. The "Ol' Boys Club" hires need to end, period.

Yes David I fully agree. In fact I think this step back may be what's needed to take that elusive step forward. Without these awful faceplants, an 11-1 type season with another playoff humiliation is what would have been the future and Lanning probably doesn't change a thing. I Think between NIL, GMs and the portal, recruiter first coaches will lose significance anyway and coaches that can prep 4-5 stars for the NFL will be the priority and UO would be a great place for those types of coaches to locate to.

Good news is that he rights the ship in a timely fashion in the off season he reloads the roster with talent from the portal quickly and can be right back in contention next year. Rebuilds are faster than ever. Holding onto key pieces on this roster will be difficult but again communicating to players at least behind closed doors can ensure players stick around.

Oregon has had some pretty good success rates on 4th down under Lanning and if he wants to keep that going he needs an offensive coordinator who can make sure those short yardage situations are effectively a freebie. Anyone remember how frustrating some of those David Shaw teams at Stanford were? Fourth and 2 and here comes the jumbo package and they convert almost every freaking time. Part of that is power and part of that is scheme and part of that is just darn good coaching. I need to dig up the old article I had from 2022 but Dillingham's jumbo package was a thing of beauty. With that package it was almost a guarantee of converting in short yardage situations. Lanning wants to play like he has top tier coaches in the sport and is making decisions with that in mind. The reality is that he doesn't have those coaches. Lanning is the one who is going to need to make those changes to his coaching roster and he will need to own it. If not in public at least with himself. At the end of the day Lanning is ultimately accountable and the fan-bases' trust in him is breaking but I am not saying broken. He will get an opportunity to prove himself in the off season and next season. And yes, I am aware we still have half a season ahead of us still.

I think a lot of this discussion needs to be focused on Dan Lanning himself. How did we end up hiring a riverboat gambler? I don't think he learned his way too agressive behavior (IMHO) from Kirby Smart or Nick Saban. The most recent examples are the Oklahoma State game where his go for it attitude on 4th and 8 yards arguably cost us the game. Against UCLA his poor decision to go for two points after the first TD probably cost us the game. Our defense is playing relatively well considering they had to play the 2/3rds of the last game due to offensive miscues. The offense is a mess. Mehringer has done a poor job and his resume is poor but he works for the Head Coach who is ultimately responsible. Changes need to be made now because we are trending in the wrong direction.

Great article David. Your weekly articles have become one of the best parts of the forum. Keep it up! In the big picture, I think this will just be the one step back after many steps forward for Lanning if he learns the right lessons which I think he will. I think Lanning's biggest mistake has been an out of balanced priority of recruiting over coaching. I did a little research in another thread and was actually shocked at how little actual coaching history most of the offensive position coaches have vs how much recruiting history they have. For example, here's what the QB room looks like from QB1-QB4: 5 star, 5star. 3 star. 4 star. That's a galaxy of stars been lead by a QB coach that played tight end in college (UO) and has never even been a position coach before and only been an assistant QB coach with Stein in 24-25 before the promotion. What? The three elephants in the room are QB regression, lack of O line development and lackluster play calling. Here are the guys responsible for those jobs. The line is being coached by a guy with only one year at Hawaii as an O line coach before arriving at Oregon. They are all being lead by an OC with only one year at Rutgers as OC under his belt. They are being lead by QBs that are being lead by a guy learning his job in real time. This is the level of experience that is guiding a team with national championship aspirations. Unbelievable. I would expect more experience at a mid level Sun Belt conference team. All of those guys primary responsibilities at their earlier stops was recruiting. Lanning is a smart guy but obviously miscalculated the priorities for long term success. I think he'll right the ship in the off season but this year won't be what we had hoped but if it's the one step back before the championship step forward, it will be worth it.

I haven’t read the article, yet, but it sounds as though Coach Lanning is starting to feel the pressure and break a little based on his press conference responses. He was very defensive about his offensive coaches. I’m by no means calling for his head but the PR team needs to help him out. It would be better to say I have no comment or will have to evaluate that after ____.

I've been saying it since the Ok St loss... but this coaching staff is just too young. When you get down to it a veteran teacher or coach is just going to run circles around a first or second year one. Talent is not an issue, the Ducks are getting out coached. Some Uncomfortable Decisions Are Coming at Season’s EndOregon demolished Portland State 84-0 on Friday night.

Marsh Duck Tuesday? Well I was unable to get to editing the article on Sunday evening so I pushed the publishing date off until today. I also had sword classes on Sunday which was great for my mental health but also made me a bit too tired to want to deal with some of these issues facing the program right now. Anyways I hope you find the article interesting... it wasn't the article I wanted to write and probably not the article you wanted to read this year about the coaching situation but here we are. Trust in Lanning is BreakingThis isn’t the article I wanted to write and this isn’t the article you wanted to read.

In the main post above, I didn't mention all the times that the various coaches main duties included some variant of recruiting coordinator. I should have as it would have underscored my main point. Most of the coaches main jobs seemed to be recruiter first, assistant position coach second followed by moving up to position coach while maintaining lead recruiter titles. It's the common theme among them. I found most of this info from the goducks website if you want to check it yourself. Also notice how the most experienced position coaches are at receiver and running back where they are having the least problems.