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Oregon Football: Dan Lanning provides look at OC search timeline

I hope Coach Lanning does the complete opposite of what he did when he promoted both coordinators last year.

He also needs to de-emphasize the importance of recruiting and running a specific offensive system, and prioritize the importance of experience, measurable offensive production and player development.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by OregonDucks

I hope Dan doesn't make the same mistake of letting his friendships come before the program.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Krsmqn

Isn't JJ just an interim hire?

Indeed.

That's what the announcement indicated.

It is likely very difficult concentrating on an outside hire while dealing with a burning Tesla in the dumpster...

DL knows he has to get this hire right and hopefully he's learned his lesson about performing a proper nationwide search for suitable candidates. I'm betting he's going over that list of guys he's met/watched over the years from the Saban/Norvell/Smart coaching trees but I hope Mullen is helping by hiring an outside firm to assist with the candidate search.

I doubt we're going to get any clarity or see any public progress over the next few weeks. It's more important to get the hire right than getting a hire quickly. That being said, he doesn't have unlimited time. He probably has until December to announce a new hire.

At least we know the playoffs won't get in the way🤪

Why can't we do better in the short term than Jay?

And if we wait until the end of the season we'll be competing against Michigan A&M and other elite schools for a coordinators. So it wouldn't be the worst decision to hire a permanent replacement before the end of the season.

1 hour ago, Solar said:

And if we wait until the end of the season we'll be competing against Michigan A&M and other elite schools for a coordinators. So it wouldn't be the worst decision to hire a permanent replacement before the end of the season.

I can't agree more. If a great hire is just there waiting to be had just go for it. We could easily miss out on A tier candidates while we're "leaving no stone unturned".

4 hours ago, kirklandduck said:

DL knows he has to get this hire right and hopefully he's learned his lesson about performing a proper nationwide search for suitable candidates. I'm betting he's going over that list of guys he's met/watched over the years from the Saban/Norvell/Smart coaching trees but I hope Mullen is helping by hiring an outside firm to assist with the candidate search.

I doubt we're going to get any clarity or see any public progress over the next few weeks. It's more important to get the hire right than getting a hire quickly. That being said, he doesn't have unlimited time. He probably has until December to announce a new hire.

My gut is Phil already called Mullens and let him know we aren't doing a first-time play caller type of Lanning buddy hire. I also think Mullens has already told Lanning you're going to hire an experienced top-level OC who can help you from getting blown out in the playoff in embarrassing fashion like the last two years.

They might make him get a new high-profile DC as well, I would.

Phil is a smart enough businessman to know it was a failure on his and Mullens part to let Lanning do the internal promotions for an OC and a DC. They run the program, not Lanning.

We've been beaten like a drum and outcoached in the last two playoffs, they own some culpability letting Lanning make the stupid promotion move.

They have another bite at the apple now and the question should be - who is the hire we win a NATTY with, cost don't matter.

ADs also should expect that whomever is a coordinator can fill the Head job if necessary.

Either short term in the event of accident/illness, or longer term if your Head guy bails out for NFL or another college job. Maybe either coordinator isn't the ideal, but they do serve as an insurance policy if necessary. ADs need to think about that.

43 minutes ago, dazednconfused said:

My gut is Phil already called Mullens and let him know we aren't doing a first-time play caller type of Lanning buddy hire. I also think Mullens has already told Lanning you're going to hire an experienced top-level OC who can help you from getting blown out in the playoff in embarrassing fashion like the last two years.

They might make him get a new high-profile DC as well, I would.

Phil is a smart enough businessman to know it was a failure on his and Mullens part to let Lanning do the internal promotions for an OC and a DC. They run the program, not Lanning.

We've been beaten like a drum and outcoached in the last two playoffs, they own some culpability letting Lanning make the stupid promotion move.

They have another bite at the apple now and the question should be - who is the hire we win a NATTY with, cost don't matter.

Hiring Aranda would require Lanning to admit he needs a fundamental shift from the Defensive philosophy he brought with him from Georgia.

I like the idea.

I believe the offense is going to be a bigger puzzle to solve. Teaching a quarterback to throw open a receiver is a requirement in order to win national championship. Matching an offensive philosophy with the current (and acquired) offensive lineman is going to be the challenge as well.

As a side note, I don't like the term constraint play because it connotates limitations in my mind. I like the term sequential play, because I believe it requires having a series of plays surrounding by a fundamental play.

I've only seen a few offensive coordinators that consistently design a playbook around forcing defenses to actually think about five plays based off of a look and/or tendency. Not to mention an answer to the type of suffocating defenses we've seen the past three years (at the elite level).

Of all the criticism thrown at Lanning, I haven't seen many people dig in the weeds and elaborate on his shortcomings. As much of a gambler that he is, I see a pretty conservative coach that wants his defense to do the heavy lifting.

I personally believe you need an offense that can nuke an NFL defense. Of course that is pure fantasy, but it is the attitude I'm looking for.

And yes, I think the talent has been B/B+ at best. You can win a title with that kind of talent, but they have to play damn near flawless ball.

While pondering schematic philosophies that come with new coaches, another thing might need to be considered and that's simplicity vs complexity of schemes. The portal era is kind of starting to mimic the five star one and done model of basketball. Portalling in upper classmen only gives players one or two years on the team and they need to grasp their resposibilites fast.

I think the days of coming up in the system for years and slowly absorbing the playbook are coming to an end and I think simpler schemes with situational variations that just let four star guys do four star things will be what's needed for plug and play players moving forward.

14 hours ago, Solar said:

Why can't we do better in the short term than Jay?

Not really...

Ka'ai, Samples, and Douglas are the only other three and NONE have play calling experience.

The youth trap has hit hard!

We can't do an outside temp hire because they won't know the system and more importantly the verbage. It would take them time to come up to speed and Johnson already knows it all and had called plays in the past.

I do not expect the offense to suddenly look amazing... But that's where we're trapped.

10 hours ago, Mike West said:

Hiring Aranda would require Lanning to admit he needs a fundamental shift from the Defensive philosophy he brought with him from Georgia.

I like the idea.

I believe the offense is going to be a bigger puzzle to solve. Teaching a quarterback to throw open a receiver is a requirement in order to win national championship. Matching an offensive philosophy with the current (and acquired) offensive lineman is going to be the challenge as well.

As a side note, I don't like the term constraint play because it connotates limitations in my mind. I like the term sequential play, because I believe it requires having a series of plays surrounding by a fundamental play.

I've only seen a few offensive coordinators that consistently design a playbook around forcing defenses to actually think about five plays based off of a look and/or tendency. Not to mention an answer to the type of suffocating defenses we've seen the past three years (at the elite level).

Of all the criticism thrown at Lanning, I haven't seen many people dig in the weeds and elaborate on his shortcomings. As much of a gambler that he is, I see a pretty conservative coach that wants his defense to do the heavy lifting.

I personally believe you need an offense that can nuke an NFL defense. Of course that is pure fantasy, but it is the attitude I'm looking for.

And yes, I think the talent has been B/B+ at best. You can win a title with that kind of talent, but they have to play damn near flawless ball.

Many moons ago Chris Petersen was OC at Boise State. He ran an offense often known as “Pete’s Poison.” Opposing DC’s literally lost their minds trying to figure out how to stop it. It was Pete’s Poison that beat Oklahoma, Georgia and Oregon. Pete was HC, not OC at that time but the OC was Bryan Harsin and he was an understudy to Pete and definitely ran Pete’s offense.

Eventually, Pete simplified that offense because it took a couple of years for incoming players to learn it. The more highly rated players he was recruiting because of the Fiesta Bowl win wanted to play much earlier so the offense could no longer require a Phi Beta Kappa and years of practice.

Interestingly, the Boise State Broncos started to score fewer points and win fewer high profile games after the change. (Oregon has chalked up two straight victories over Bronco teams not running that insane offense.)

Pete was/is an offensive genius. Those guys exist but they are few. Most are probably working and wouldn’t publicly commit to a move until the season is over. The Ducks would have to back a dump truck full of cash up to the door of a guy like Pete to secure a true offensive guru. But that’s exactly what Oregon must do if it wants to hoist the trophy at the end of the season.

JMHO

11 hours ago, Mike West said:

Hiring Aranda would require Lanning to admit he needs a fundamental shift from the Defensive philosophy he brought with him from Georgia.

Yes and no... bringing in any established defensive mind means that Lanning is open to the continued development of his defense and its evolution. The Mint defense is NOT perfect and has some significant weaknesses in it. No team has the players Georgia had in 2020 and 2021 and teams have learned to exploit the Mint defense.

Change isn't admitting defeat because frankly the defense has been pretty good this year but admitting change needs to happen admits that things can get better.

I would love new ideas to come into the program and elevate everyone.

1 hour ago, DuckyBronco said:

Many moons ago Chris Petersen was OC at Boise State. He ran an offense often known as “Pete’s Poison.” Opposing DC’s literally lost their minds trying to figure out how to stop it. It was Pete’s Poison that beat Oklahoma, Georgia and Oregon. Pete was HC, not OC at that time but the OC was Bryan Harsin and he was an understudy to Pete and definitely ran Pete’s offense.

Eventually, Pete simplified that offense because it took a couple of years for incoming players to learn it. The more highly rated players he was recruiting because of the Fiesta Bowl win wanted to play much earlier so the offense could no longer require a Phi Beta Kappa and years of practice.

Interestingly, the Boise State Broncos started to score fewer points and win fewer high profile games after the change. (Oregon has chalked up two straight victories over Bronco teams not running that insane offense.)

Pete was/is an offensive genius. Those guys exist but they are few. Most are probably working and wouldn’t publicly commit to a move until the season is over. The Ducks would have to back a dump truck full of cash up to the door of a guy like Pete to secure a true offensive guru. But that’s exactly what Oregon must do if it wants to hoist the trophy at the end of the season.

JMHO

We're spending pretty much league high money on getting player talent.

And then, we apparently went 'on the cheap' regarding finding, hiring, and paying the absolute best proven OC that money could buy?

That's still the part that I do not understand. For a program at our level, to have taken such a massive risk with an unproven OC coach like Meh is extremely strange to me (actually, the experience Meh did have was sub-par, at best).

I'm still perplexed by what the hiring decision was based upon. I'm hoping that there's a much bigger picture here that I just don't see.

My fear, though, is that the decision was based primarily on friendship, instinct, and ego.