Dan Lanning (born April 10, 1986) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former player who is currently the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

from 2019 to 2021. Lanning played college football at

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

from 2004 to 2007. Prior to his tenure at Oregon, he held various assistant coaching positions at Park Hill South High School in Kansas City, Missouri, the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, Arizona State University, Sam Houston State University, the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

, the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering, the Center for Ea ...

, and the University of Georgia.

Playing career

Lanning played

in Missouri from 2004 to 2007. While attending William Jewell, he lived in a house on Elizabeth Street and was roommates with Trent Figg, now an offensive analyst under Lanning at Oregon.

Coaching career

Early career

After his playing career at William Jewell ended, Lanning spent three seasons working at Park Hill South High School as the special teams coordinator, defensive backs coach, and wide receivers coach. Aspiring to be an NCAA Division I football coach, Lanning drove thirteen hours to Pittsburgh to convince the coaching staff led by

Todd Graham Michael Todd Graham (born December 5, 1964) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2020–2021). Graham has served as the head football coach at Rice ...

, who he had met at coaching clinics attended by the Park Hill South staff at

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. He was subsequently hired as a graduate assistant at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

for one season before following Graham to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

as a graduate assistant. He was promoted in 2013 to the on-campus recruiting coordinator. He was hired away to be the defensive backs coach and co-recruiting coordinator at

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in March 2014. He spent 2015 as a graduate assistant at

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, where the Crimson Tide defeated Clemson 45–40 in the

CFP National Championship game The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. ...

. Lanning was hired to be the inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

in December 2015, reuniting with

Mike Norvell Michael Kelly Norvell (born October 11, 1981) is an American college football coach who is currently head coach at Florida State. Norvell was previously the head coach at Memphis. He has coached at Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and Central A ...

who was the offensive coordinator at Arizona State when Lanning was a graduate assistant and on-campus recruiting coordinator.

Georgia

Lanning was hired in 2018 by

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

as the outside linebackers coach. After Bulldogs defensive coordinator

Mel Tucker Melvin Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he has held since 2020. Previously, Tucker served as the head football coac ...

left to accept the head coaching position at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

after the 2018 season, Lanning was promoted to defensive coordinator in addition to his duties as the outside linebackers coach. Following Georgia's victory in the Sugar Bowl, Lanning received a raise to $1.25 million. In 2021, Lanning was considered for the

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

head coach vacancy. However, the position ended up going to

Lance Leipold Lance Leipold ( ; born May 6, 1964) is an American college football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Kansas since 2021. Leipold served as the head football coach at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (UWW) fr ...

. In Lanning’s final year, Georgia would finish undefeated in the regular season, going on to win the 2021-2022 College Football Playoff by defeating the Michigan Wolverines (34-11) in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

Semi-Final and the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

(33-18) in the National Championship Game.

Oregon

On December 11, 2021, Lanning was named the 35th head coach at the

, replacing

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami. Cristobal previously was the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 2007 to 20 ...

after his departure to become the head coach at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Lanning signed a six-year, $29.1 million contract with the Ducks.

Personal life

Lanning and his wife, Sauphia, have three children. While at Memphis, Sauphia was diagnosed with

osteosarcoma An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) (or simply bone cancer) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma ...

and underwent chemotherapy treatments. Sauphia was deemed cancer-free in 2017 after months of treatments.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Oregon profile

Georgia profile

Memphis profile

Sam Houston State profile

Arizona State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanning, Dan 1986 births Living people American football linebackers Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches Oregon Ducks football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Sam Houston Bearkats football coaches William Jewell Cardinals football players High school football coaches in Missouri People from Richmond, Missouri Sportspeople from the Kansas City metropolitan area Coaches of American football from Missouri Players of American football from Missouri