“Learned more in football that year than I'd ever learned”: Dan Lanning credits the 2015 Nick Saban and crew for imparting coaching knowledge on him 

Dan Lanning is among the most talked about coaches lately. While many expected him to take the Alabama job, Lanning decided to stay in Oregon and continue brewing his dynasty.

After Bo Nix's final season with the Ducks, Lanning has built one of the deepest quarterback units at Oregon with former Oklahoma star Dillon Gabriel, who scored 30 touchdowns and threw for 3,660 yards during the 2023 college football season. Along with Gabriel, Lanning also added former five-star quarterback Dante Moore to his roster.

Lanning was also able to land five-star wide receiver Evan Stewart along with a number of four-star recruits: Jabbar Mohammad, Derrik Harmon and Kam Alexander who can lead Oregon to a national championship title in 2024.

In a conversation with Will Crompton on his YouTube channel "Bussin with the Boys," Lanning opened up about how a coaching job with Nick Saban impacted the trajectory of his career:

"It's something I can appreciate now more than I did probably at the moment. I was a full-time coach at Sam Houston State as a DB coach. I was finally making a little bit of money. ... I got an opportunity to be a graduate assistant at Alabama.

"And if you look back and look at that now it was an all-star staff. Coach Saban, Coach (Kirby) Smart, Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Mel Tucker, Billy Napier, I mean, the list kind of just goes on and on, and the guys that are on that staff, and I learned more in football that year in 2015 than I've ever learned in my career." (1:50:39)

Dan Lanning on his interview with Nick Saban

Dan Lanning has been a part of the coaching business for years now. Before taking up the Oregon job, Lanning was the defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs.

From being a defensive backs coach at Sam Houston State to working as a graduate assistant on Nick Saban's Alabama all-star staff in 2015, it has been a long journey.

Talking about one of the most memorable moments of his career, Lanning opened up about the nerves leading up to the interview:

"Yeah, you know, nothing that I had ever been prepared for. You know, I kind of assumed I'd be a fly on the wall. But to sit there with Coach Saban, he's asking you questions about your philosophy on protection. That's not something I had dialed up, ready. You know, I had my thoughts, and I shared them, but you got to meet with everybody in the organization, you know, from position coaches to administrative staff. "

He talked about the moment when he received the call from Saban:

"I thought they did a really good job of being meticulous in that process, getting feedback from everybody in the building what you think of this guy? So, it's a lot of fun. I still got the voicemail saved on my phone today of Coach Saban calling and, you know, saying, 'Hey, give me a call back.' Not deleting that. Yeah." (1:51:00)

Dan Lanning has done an exceptional job using the transfer portal to Oregon's advantage, and fans will be interested to see how the Ducks perform in 2024.