If the transfer portal success is an art, Dan Lanning is an artist. The Oregon head coach came off as one of the biggest winners of the offseason portal saga. They weren’t immune to the mass exodus trend among the college football programs. Lanning lost 12 players from last season’s Big Ten Conference title team. But never mind! Coach Lanning doesn’t know how to back down, especially when it comes to recruiting prowess. Ending at the topmost rank in the next year’s class is a bare minimum flex for a power recruiter like him. But having the most talented Transfer Portal class of the year as per On3 Industry’s average ranking per commit speaks real volumes.
As an added advantage, the stupendous record and the high confidence in his own recruiting ability didn’t make the Oregon coach freak out when a player wanted to leave, but he still had some expectations for his portal-going players.
Dan Lanning wants players to communicate before bidding a final goodbye
In the growing NIL era, it’s quite common for players to jump ship from one school to another, but the Oregon head coach asks for basic decency from his players. He likes to learn the news from the athlete himself and not from social media walls. During the March 13th episode of Unafraid Show With George Wrighster, the Ducks head coach said, ”I always say to our players, you know, I think every person in this program deserves that conversation, right? I think before you read it on Twitter, you should have a conversation first, and as a man, you guys have done an unbelievable job here at Oregon, and we really take pride in wearing that, so, let’s have a conversation first.”
It’s tough for a player, as well as a program, to let go of all his memories and strong footing inside the program after spending two or three seasons. But Lanning takes immense pride in his recruiting staff to manage both the recruiting pressure and the portal chaos simultaneously, but at the same time he has respect for the players to choose to leave. Lanning, as an individual and as a professional, wants to be that stepping stone in others’ success. He set a goal to help his people reach their highest potential, no matter where it is.
”Then sometimes that decision’s made, and a lot of times that can be best for the player. It can be best for the program, and everybody’s goals and aspirations are a little bit different. So sometimes it fits for a guy to be able to go on and check out the next opportunity,” the $29.1 million head coach added. He is not barred from emotion, though. Losing people simply hurts, but when the ultimate focus is a holistic development of the program and its weapons, small misalignment can’t wreck the system and the mindset the school preens itself on.
However, despite all the good values and philosophies, Lanning isn’t foreign to flakes that culminated in a massive $700K tampering accusation. The NIL brought some glaring issues into the dark side of the CFB reality, one of which is the term tampering. Dirk Koetter, a former OC turned analyst at Boise State, deems the Oregon head coach as an outright campaigner of it.
Lanning continues to expand his recruiting roots, outstripping all the odds
Boise State capped off its regular football season with a loss in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State. Even though the transfer portal officially closed the windows on Dec 28, certain players on teams were afforded 5 extra days after their season finished. Hence, the Broncos players had time to sit and ponder over the decision. Dirk Koetter alleges that Dan Lanning didn’t let them do so. He, or someone from his staff, allegedly broke the rules and sanctity and tried to contact the players even before they left the school officially.
In an interview with KTIK Idaho Sports Talk, Koetter said, “I know for a fact that just last week- after the Fiesta Bowl- one of the key starters on defense got a call from the Oregon Ducks. Offering him $700,000.” That’s huge. But apart from the tampering issues, the common narrative around Oregon and Dan Lanning’s NIL success is the strong backup from Nike billionaire Phil Knight. And it’s growing more and more regardless of all the brickbats. The Oregon-focused NIL collective Division Street revealed that Knight recently signed a deal with Fight Club to release the first-ever Nike Air Max 95/97 hybrids featuring Oregon’s colors and logos.
Given all the proceeds are heading straight back to the Ducks’ NIL fund, the moves came off as a huge plus for coach Lanning’s growing recruiting legacy and the ode to his Natty dream next year.
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