Dan Lanning is having a swell time in his coaching career at the moment. One of the highest-paid Division 1 football coaches, the Oregon HC is proof of grit and determination. This is the first program where he became a head coach after working under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. As the Ducks HC, Lanning has consistently grown and put up one brilliant record after another. He started with an impressive 10-3 in 2022 and now recorded a near-perfect finish of 13-1. But the journey here has been a tough ride for Lanning.
Lanning, after his playing career with William Jewell, ended up coaching high school football for three years. After that, the HC made one of the most important decisions of his life and drove for a whopping 13 hours to convince the Pittsburgh Panthers staff to hire him. He spent one year there but continued his career as a graduate assistant for a few more years in that position. He continued to hold that position at Georgia, where he was making $325,000 annually. From there, he’s now making a colossal $11 million at Oregon. The time it took to get here was riddled with sacrifices made by both Dan Lanning and his family.
He told Bussin’ With The Boys in an April 15 episode that there was a time when he had to use food stamps to buy groceries. “When I’m at Pitt, we have that card, and you need to use it each month, right, or the money is gone, right? So, I remember I had the whole scout team when I’m at Pitt over at my house, and we had a heck of a dinner swiping the card,” Lanning recounted. But he also admits he put his career forward at the cost of his family’s happiness. “What I realize now is a lot of that was really selfish. Everybody wants to be able to be like an unbelievable dad and an unbelievable husband. And you want that, but you also want to elevate. You want to move up.” But Lanning wouldn’t have his current position if he didn’t make those tough choices.
He expressed his gratitude to still have it all despite those hardships. “I feel so unbelievably blessed to get to do what I do and the place that I get to do it,” he said. “What I always think about is, what if I didn’t do that, right? The pain of regret, you know, versus the pain of discipline. I always chased opportunity. I never really worried about how much I made. God always made sure we had enough to take care of, you know, take care of the house.”
In Alabama, Lanning mentioned that he was making $1200 a month when he had three kids to look after. That was a sacrifice he and his family both made for him to be where he is today. A crucial turning point in his life came by way of Saban, which led to his journey to the Div-1 HC he is today.
Dan Lanning’s time at Bama was a crucial one
Under the veteran coach, Lanning was still a graduate assistant. He spent just a year at Alabama, but not without helping the Crimson Tide win a national championship. Saban left him a voicemail prior to this stint, offering the job. Lanning still hasn’t deleted it today. This essentially paved the way for him to be among the greats in college football, and he soaked in everything he could to understand what it takes to carry that hat.
Lanning said, “For me, it was never about chasing the dollars. It was about chasing the opportunity. And it probably ended up being the best decision in my career of picking a place to go where I could learn and be around great people and be around great players. I got to be on staff there with Kirby Smart, Mario Cristobal, Lane Kiffin, Billy Napier, and Mel Tucker. It was just an elite group to be around.” He also added, “Getting to coach with some of those guys and be on staff like that, and we won a championship that year, probably propelled my career more than anything I did.” All of those names have become HCs of elite teams in CFB and have commanding resumes as well.
The Ducks HC will always hold on to those trying times in his life. He said, “Going broke early in my career was like a great lesson of, ‘Hey, this could happen again,’ right?” His salary today is a giant leap from the meager $1,200 figure he had while he was at Alabama. And for that, Lanning has given it all to get to where he is today. He’s produced greats like Dillon Gabriel and Bo Nix in his career and has a stellar record of 35-6.
Today, Dan Lanning is the 4th highest-paid college football coach. He follows behind only Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day, and mentor Kirby Smart. His career will always be a reminder to persevere through times of trouble to get to the goal. Will he continue to excel in 2025, adding yet another achievement to his already impressive resume? We’ll have to wait and watch.
The post ‘I Was Selfish’: Dan Lanning Admits His Family’s Biggest Sacrifice Amid Financial Hardship & How Nick Saban’s Alabama Changed His Life appeared first on EssentiallySports.