Buried in a thread below about this week's article by David Marsh is a claim that even after this incredible victory in the 'Shoe over Ohio State....that the poster believes that Dan Lanning should be held accountable for the three losses this year, and has hinted/implied more than once that he should be fired and replaced.

Even when there were calls in this forum for his replacement after the loss to Illinois, I felt that since Lanning had won so many games for us, and the obvious coaching talent was there--we should let him continue his learning journey at Oregon as he will surely correct the situation. He, as well as the fans see what the problems are, and let's allow him to solve them?

The problems on offense were improved upon by a factor I never could have imagined. Yes, the run-blocking needs much more improvement, but the difference in scoring in just two games against ranked opponents is simply amazing to me. I have all the confidence that he will solve Oregon's other issues in the off-season.

The assertions against him were how his five-year track record should have been better, but the chart below after the Ohio State win shows his track record in 4.75 years at Oregon....tied for second in all of college football for the most wins. The raw coaching talent is there and has already been shown, and I believe that we will all see the coaching upside that he has left.

Above shows the number of wins in college football over the last 4.75 years, and he is tied with Ohio State, and only lags No. 1 Georgia at this point. He has things to solve and upside left as a coach....and he knows that, yet he's done this much winning already? I would ask fans to give him the chance to implement his changes, and see how it impacts the next three years.

What does it say about the fans of two schools tied for second in the most wins over the last five years in college football--to call for the heads of both coaches? In both cases after just three losses in one season?

Regardless of the results of the final three games of the regular season and whatever awaits us in post-season...it is evident we have a head coach who is one of the best head coaches in the country, and let's see what he can continue to do for us!

Do you think we could be the victims of some trolls? I could not help but notice that those who are the most "over-the-top" negative were not here for all the winning of recent years; they showed up and registered only after the first loss of this season. (Again, discussing the negative is fine, as I've done that too, but a few OBD members take it too far)

Do you agree? Do you think fans are correct, or going overboard asking for Dan's "accountability" after his three losses and the win in Columbus?

If he is to be held accountable for the losses, he should be held accountable for the wins also. I would say he's done pretty good.

Let's see who qualifies to throw the first stone.

Dan Lanning is coaching at a level I don't think I have ever witnessed. Probably the best coaching job of any power coach this year.

Amazing to watch, brilliant job Dan. It's easy to coach with a light breeze. Much harder to sail that ship in a hurricane. We are blessed to witness what we are experiencing this season

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Log Haulin

FAN derives from the word FANATIC! "A fanatic is a person who shows extreme, unreasonable, and uncritical enthusiasm, devotion, or zeal for a cause, belief, or activity."

Rarely have met or known a Fanatic that also applies LOGIC to their fanatical perspectives.

Sometimes myself included.

NUFF SAID.

GO QUACKERS ALL YA FELLOW FANATICAL DUCKHEADS!!! 🦆

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by MicroBurst61

Quick question. If James Franklin was Oregon's coach this season (with the same coordinators) what would his record be at this point?

I think Lanning held himself to account with the mid season firing.

Of course he should be held accountable, it's how people learn from their mistakes. His reliance on in-house promotion isn't necessarily a bad idea but he messed it up by not performing a proper search for candidates for comparison...he just went with hiring a buddy he thought he knew well. Ultimately it contributed to what may be a lost season if OBD doesn't get into the CFP.

But it's easy to forget that he's only in his 5th year as a head coach ever and is still rather green in certain aspects (staff management would be one of them). He did fire Meh which is a step in the right direction (though if Jay Johnson didn't work out as play caller I think most of use would be feeling very differently about the season right now). Re-evaluating his positional staff after the season ends would be another positive step (at minimum I think we need new blood at QB and OL coaching).

What will ultimately show that he's taking that accountability seriously is launching a formal nationwide search for OC candidates and fully evaluating them before making a decision. He needs to get this hire right and performing that formal search is the way to do it. If it turns out to be Jay Johnson then that's who it will be as long as he's been vetted against others and evaluated to be the best option.

By that ridiculous standard of "accountability" every coach in the country, except the one that wins the national championship, should be fired every year.

I’m more concerned about him learning from the experience and adjusting than “being held accountable” for a few losses in one season where EVERYBODY is accumulating head-scratching losses. The recent trend of knee-jerk firings feels extremely short-sighted, unless you think you already have a better option on the hook with loads of buy-out money floating around.

Of course he should, but that does not mean he should be fired for half a season that did not live up to expectations.

That's just ludicrous IMHO, Saban was just about run out of town at MSU and he was run out of town at Miami. Seems like he turned out OK.

For me (not that it really matters) the fact that he swallowed his pride, put his stubborness aside and made the hard decision to fire Meh says a lot. Staying the course would have been a total disaster and to his credit he saw that.

Of course a lot depends on how we finish. We still have a chance to get into the CFP and win it all. We could also finish 6-6 and go to a garbage bowl. Time will tell.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by noDucknewby

He’s a Top 5 head coach in the country. He made a terrible decision with his OC hire. He recognized that mistake fixed it mid-year.

I would love to hear from anyone that wants Dan fired who they think the replacement would be. My guess is any realistic option would be a significant downgrade.

Let me add that only 4 teams have made the 12-team playoff both years - Oregon, tOSU, Indiana, and Georgia. Is it realistic to expect to make that field every year? TOSU and one of Oregon / Indiana are likely not getting in this year. That means 2 teams (Georgia and Indiana or Oregon) will have made it all three years.

I think expectations are out of whack. If you are able to make that field better than 50% of the time, you are borderline elite.

Next year going to 24 teams, I do think expectations will shift and Oregon should get in every year.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by GeotechDuck

Holding a coach "accountable" for 3 losses? 3? After winning 26 with 3 losses the last 2 years?!

This type of thinking is somewhat irresponsible. Granted, it's who and how we lost that are the real issue, and only because we think so highly of ourselves.

It's also a result of believing only a national championship determines a successful season. A belief that I personally dislike.

Do we only accept "Saban-esque" type results? Even he took years, different teams and leaving and returning to CFB before winning so much ( not to mention the recruiting prowe$$ of Bama).

In this era of portal transfers and NIL, few coaches, if any, are doing a better job coaching than Lanning.

Just look at other expensive rosters that are doing poorly; Texas A&M, LSU, tOSU, and many more!

We as fans seem to have lost the ability to appreciate development.

Our O-line has been one of the best the last 3 years. Each year we had players with years of in-game experience. This year we have talent, but missing as much experience. In each of the past 3 games we have witnessed vast improvement. Still room to grow. But definitely headed in right direction.

Yes, winning every week is fun, but not at all realistic. C'mon people, have we forgotten our past, where we've come from?

I agree we should hold our head coach and his staff to a high standard and never accept losing as a way of life (we are Oregon, not Oregon State!). But we gotta be somewhat realistic.

Don't forget that Bo and D Gabriel were the most experienced QBs in the history of CFB. Their OC's went on to become head coaches, successful ones. Not every year or every hire is gonna be that good.

In Lanning I trust. Go DUCKS!

I had three opportunities to supervise employees during my career. In the first I hired two persons that I later had to terminate, and hired others who were good to great. In the second I did better and in the third I was very successful. I learned with each experience. In the professional world, the business world and sports that's the way it works. Considering his age and experience when he became the Duck head coach, Dan Lanning is outstanding in his first experience as the leader.

One part people don't seem to consider is that if you do not promote from within your staff will always be looking to go elsewhere. That's not a great environment for success.

Lanning is not only good with his staff, he is the best strategist during the game in Oregon history, going back to Len Casanova in the 1950's. Yes, Chip Kelly had some good years, but he came to Autzen for Northwestern and Lanning and his crew out-coached him. No Oregon coach that I can recall made the kind of strategic moves during the game like Lanning made vs. Ohio State last week. Was Lanning too bold in his early years at Oregon a few times? In retrospect, with the benefit of hindsight, maybe he was. But he has mellowed in that respect, learning along the way.

The primary thought an AD has to have in mind when considering termination of a coach is whether there is someone out there who could do a better job. I cannot think of anyone who would be a better fit for Oregon than Lanning.

To answer your question about trolls, Charles, it is not even possible that some Husky honks would invade this site to create havoc. Is it?

I'm only saying this one thing. Dan Lanning is one of the top best coaches out there. Oregon has nothing but upside with Lanning at the helm.

Urban Meyer Makes Surprising Dan Lanning Claim After Ohio State Upset

Former Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer provided high praise for Dan Lanning's latest performance with the Oregon Ducks.

Oregon Ducks On SI

Urban Meyer Makes Surprising Dan Lanning Claim After Ohio...

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning has had several highlight-worthy moments during his first five seasons in Eugene, going 54-11, including a College Football Playo

When you’re losing, it’s easier to be patient with mistakes made by head coaches than when you are winning. We stuck it out with Rich Brooks for 17 roller-coaster seasons ( and would have longer had he not taken an NFL offer in ‘94) which paid-off with our first Rose Bowl trip since 1917.

While it’s easy enough to understand our current impatiences (who doesn’t like winning more than losing?), that’s not the point. More than any other program I know of, Oregon has a proven track record that being patient pays-off. It’s not only part of our legacy; to me, it’s the best part.

The point is, if being patient with Brooks paid-off with the Rose Bowl, what might be the reward for being patient with Dan?

A tongue-in-cheek look at Oregon's season to date.

Kirby Smart is 0-2 in the 12-team playoff. I can't believe this bum still has a job! 🤪

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/gamedaykickoff111226/week-11-top-games-upsets-preview

What does accountability translate to?

He holds himself accountable which is why he fired Mehringer. I don't think he realistically could have fired him earlier (I mean with hindsight sure but not in the moment) ... Oklahoma State was outright unacceptable but sometimes those things happen and the UCLA was a loss with Raiola getting his first start and played his worst game. The Illinois loss showed there was no improvement and there was a Nebraska win between the UCLA and Illinois losses that made Raiola a hero along with the USC masterpiece.

Firing Mehringer after a Nebraska loss would have been one thing but not after a win over Nebraska.

Mehringer was absolutely the wrong hire and Lanning made some other wrong hires in this pool of coaches as well. It just took until this season for some of those hires to truly reveal just how inadequate they are for this team.

The blow out losses to Ohio State and Indiana absolutely suck too... but for Indiana you can see the extenuating circumstances that helped lead to that loss and perhaps next time he'll know what to do. But lets get real even a distracted Will Stein was a better option at play caller than Mehringer though we wouldn't have known it at the time last season.

Lanning gets to prove this off season that he has learned and make the changes needed to this program. If Jay Johnson is auto promoted to full time OC and no one is fired I'll be concerned and I won't try to pump sunshine on that, you have my word.

As an engineering manager I've modelled my approach to employees after great college football teams. Recruiting, evaluation, and development done with a standard of excellence.

I consider Lanning's hire of Meh to be the worst outlier I've seen from any successful program that I can remember, which includes Cristobal 's missteps as well.

He just learned some important lessons at everyone's expense, but I do think he learned, the hard way, as opposed to just remembering everything, but learning nothing as some do.

It actually reduces risk going forward of something similar happening in the future. Changing coaches might only serve to restore that risk, while introducing a whole bunch of other risks of simply underperforming what Lanning has always done successfully too.

7 minutes ago, Washington Waddler said:

which paid-off with our first Rose Bowl trip since 1917

Don't forget about 1958, hate to see the 20th century Duck Rose Bowl history accidently made to sound even worse 🫤.