Did Dan Lanning coach under Nick Saban? Oregon HC's professional career explored

Before becoming the head coach of Oregon Ducks, Dan Lanning gained years of experience at different levels of coaching.

Lanning began his coaching career at Park Hill South High School from 2008 until 2010. He then went to college as he worked as a graduate assistant in 2011. After one season, he joined Arizona State as a graduate assistant.

His first real job in college came in 2014, as he was the defensive back coach and co-recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State. Lanning held that role for one season before joining Nick Saban's staff at Alabama as a graduate assistant for the 2015 season.

Did Dan Lanning coach under Nick Saban?

Yes, Dan Lanning coached under Nick Saban for one season. The lone year Lanning was at Alabama, the Crimson Tide won the National Title. That allowed the former linebacker to get more prominent roles, and he eventually became a head coach for the first time in 2022.

After spending four years at Georgia as a linebacker coach and defensive coordinator, Oregon hired him as their new coach. In 2022, he led the Ducks to a 10-3 record; this year, they are off to a 5-0 start.

What coaches have coached under Nick Saban?

Dan Lanning is not the only coach that has come from the Saban coaching tree. The list includes several big names, some of whom have gone on to lead their own programs.

Coach Name	Season coached under Nick Saban	HC experience
L. C. Cole	1990	Tennessee State (1996–1999), Alabama State (2000–2002), Stillman (2009–2010)
Dean Pees	1990	Kent State (1998–2003)
Bobby Williams	1995-1999 (MSU)2004 (LSU)2005-2006 (Dolphins)2008-2015 (Alabama)	Michigan State (2000–2002)
Mark Dantonio	1995-1999 (MSU)	Cincinnati (2004–2006), Michigan State (2007–2019)
Derek Dooley	2000-2006 (LSU, Miami Dolphins)2022-Present	Louisiana Tech (2007–2009), Tennessee (2010–2012)
Jimbo Fisher	2000-2004 (LSU)	Florida State (2010–2017), Texas A&M (2018–2023)
Jason Garrett	2005-2006 (Miami Dolphins)	Dallas Cowboys (2011–2019)
Curt Cignetti	2007-2010	IUP (2011–2016), Elon (2017–2018), James Madison (2019–2023), Indiana (2024–present)
Pat Shurmur	1995-1997 (MSU)	Cleveland Browns (2011–2012), New York Giants (2018–2019)
Will Muschamp	2001-2004 (LSU)	Florida (2011–2014), South Carolina (2016–2020)
Mike Mularkey	2006 (Miami Dolphins)	Jacksonville Jaguars (2012), Tennessee Titans (2016–2017)
Jim McElwain	2008-2011	Colorado State (2012–2014), Florida (2015–2017), Central Michigan (2019–present)
Adam Gase	2000-2002 (LSU)	Miami Dolphins (2016–2018), New York Jets (2019–2020)
Kirby Smart	2004 (LSU)2006 (Miami Dolphins)2007-2015 (Alabama)	Georgia (2016–present)
Major Applewhite	2007, 2019-2020	Houston (2016–2018), South Alabama (2024-present)
Geoff Collins	2007	Temple (2017–2018), Georgia Tech (2019–2022)
Mario Cristobal	2013-2016	Oregon (2017–2021), Miami (2022–present)
Lane Kiffin	2014-2016	FAU (2017–2019), Ole Miss (2020–present)
Jeremy Pruitt	2007-2012 2016-2017	Tennessee (2018–2020)
Billy Napier	2011, 2013-2016	Louisiana (2018–2021), Florida (2022–present)
Mike Locksley	2016-2018	Maryland (2019–present)
Mel Tucker	1997-1998 (MSU), 2000 (LSU), 2015 (Alabama)	Colorado (2019), Michigan State (2020–2023)
Butch Jones	2018-2020	Arkansas State (2021–present)
Steve Sarkisian	2016 2019-2020	Texas (2021–present)
Charles Huff	2019-2020	Marshall (2021–present)
Dan Lanning	2015	Oregon (2022–present)
Brian Daboll	1998-1999 (MSU), 2017 (Alabama)	New York Giants (2022–present)

Nick Saban questioned Dan Lanning's speech

Meanwhile, Dan Lanning went viral two weeks ago following the Oregon Ducks blowout win over the Colorado Buffaloes.

After the win, Oregon sent out a clip showing Lanning's pre-game speech, which fired up his team. However, while speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Nick Saban said his former assistant shouldn't have done that.

"I understand what Dan I think was trying to say. And it was probably good for his team to hear in some ways. But it probably wasn't good for everybody else to hear. That's always the argument. Where does the access--where do you draw the line and say?: 'Okay there's gotta be some time when you can talk to your team and say what you have to say, and it's really not for everybody else to hear.'"

As of right now, Oregon and Alabama don't play each other this season, but that could change in the playoffs or a bowl game. Also, Dan Lanning has still not faced Nick Saban since becoming a head coach.