Dan Lanning, Oregon Ducks Head Football Coach

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Shop in store or visit ashley.com today. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Looking forward to this afternoon tilt this weekend between 19th ranked Colorado with Coach Prime and Chidor Sanders going up against 10th ranked Oregon with Dan Lanning and also Bo Nix. And now joining us is the second year head football coach of the Oregon Ducks and that's Dan Lanning. Coach, appreciate the time.

Thanks for it. How you doing? Doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Well thanks so much for coming on. We all saw the sensational season your quarterback had a year ago. To start off this year through three games has almost 900 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions. Just why has Bo been able to flourish in your program here after coming over from Auburn?

Well priority one, he's a great player. He's always been a great player but I think he really tapped into something here. He's been able to play free but also operate really well in our system. He's kind of like having another coach on the field. He gets us in the right play a lot and it's fun to have a guy like that on your team. When he elected to return for another season, what did you guys really challenge him to do to build off what he was able to do a year ago?

You know, Bo really knows the areas. Him and I sat down personally and talked about some of the things he wanted to be able to prove and attack but honestly we just wanted to be him. I think he felt like he had some unfinished business. Not talking really selfishly, I think from some team goals that he wanted to accomplish.

We're pretty excited when he came back and excited to see what he continues to do this season. When you go to the initial recruiting process, clearly had to commit to you guys but you guys also wanted him. Why was it that you said, okay we need to go get Bo Nix? Well you know I'd actually gone against Bo several times while I was there at Georgia and he was at Auburn. He always presented some unique challenges. Even recruiting him early on in that process, you knew he was going to go to Auburn because the family ties there. It's really clear what kind of person he is, what kind of player he is, the family that he comes from.

He fit all the values and traits that we were looking for in our program. Coach Dan Lanning here with us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio Colorado Oregon this weekend on Saturday. So the talk of college football has been what Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes have been doing this year. A lot of hype comes before this game. Have you guys been handling the build up to this one on Saturday? Well I'm excited.

It's a lot of fun. Obviously there wasn't near this much hype last year when we played Colorado. So I'm glad that there's a little juice.

I think that makes college football exciting and we're certainly ready to go perform in front of a lot of fans. As a coach, what has really stood out to you when you take a look at what Coach Prime has been able to do with this team? Well I think he has some weapons. Obviously he turned the roster over quick and he has some good players there.

Guys he can play probably any combination. And then he hired a phenomenal coaching staff. I don't know if the coaching staff gets enough credit but he puts some really good guys around him that understand what he wants to accomplish and do it at a really high level. When you look at the quarterback in Shadore Sanders, you being a defensive minded coach, just what really jumps out to you? What he's been able to do so far? Going back to last year at Jackson State and what he's been able to do through the first three games of this season? I think he has great patience. He's able to extend plays. I wouldn't consider him a scramble to run guy but he's able to scramble and keep plays alive. And then his wide outs down the field do a phenomenal job of finding open spaces. He has a lot of target shots down the field that he's able to take advantage of.

And he has the athletes outside that he can get it to. Coach, this is going to be a gauntlet this year in the Pac-12. You have eight teams in the top 25 right now and the quarterbacks are just loaded. This has got to be the toughest year to prepare getting ready for all these quarterbacks, right?

Yeah, you don't sleep a lot during the week. You know what? That's what you sign up for. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad we get to play against great teams.

There's no cupcakes on our schedule. We get to go prepare every single week and that's what's going to make it fun especially when you enter conference play where it means a little bit more. When did your program really start to trust you and when did you really start to trust the players? I know this is your second go at it, your second year at Oregon, but when did you guys really start to build off that trust and things start to work very easily for you guys? You know, when I first got here, I never asked our players to trust me. I just said, hey, give me an opportunity to earn your trust, right?

And if I ever prove that I'm not trustworthy, you let me know. And I think our players really responded to that from the beginning. You know, we've been really genuine in our approach and what we want to accomplish and we have a lot of, again, like-minded players that have the same goals. We've got hungry guys, we've got leaders on this team, you know, and all of our goals are right in front of us, but it starts with just the next game, right?

And the next practice, the next meeting, so I think our guys really approach that the right way. I know you guys are excited for that next chapter when you move into the Big Ten, but with how good the Pac-12 has been this year, is it a little bittersweet knowing that this conference is coming to a close pretty much after this season? Yeah, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but I'll say this, I mean, every one of these games you kind of are going to reminisce because this might be the last time you get to play a team like Colorado or the last time you get to play certain teams.

So, we're going to enjoy every moment, you know, it starts with enjoying the day, but yeah, it's certainly going to be a little bit different moving forward. The problem is really with the Pac-12, you guys have such a good conference that you guys eventually never really beat up on one another. With how many good teams there are this year, would you hope that whoever wins the conference actually gets into the college football playoff even if they have a few more losses than some of these other conferences? Certainly, whoever wins this conference deserves to be in the college football playoff.

There's no question, especially with caliber teams that are in this conference this year, and hopefully that's us. Just wondering, Dan Lanning, if Coach Prime was there last year, some people have made this argument with the hype that he's brought to the conference, do you think that would have led to a more attractive media rights deal to maybe keep this conference around? I don't really talk in hypotheticals, you know, so it wasn't, so I really can't speak to it, but again, I'm glad there's excitement around this game and certainly glad he's brought some excitement to college football. Coach, I know we have a lot of people listening that know you from Georgia, just how do you kind of reflect on what that time at Georgia meant for your coaching career? Well, it was some of the best years of my life, my career as far as growth as a coach, opportunity to learn, I got to be around some great guys and get to coach some obviously some phenomenal players. So yeah, I'll always hold that place near and dear to my heart.

It's a team that I'm always rooting for outside of us to have success, so I wish those guys nothing but the best. You know, when I look back at your journey, it wasn't that long ago that you were coaching in high school from 2008 to 2010, you had a bunch of different stops as a GA. When did you start to feel like you were going to get a moment to become a head coach, which you've now done the last two seasons with Oregon?

I never really put that part in the front of my process. You know, I was always focused on where I was at at the time and doing a great job where I was at, and I knew that if I was in a place that won and I took care of business myself, the rest would kind of come. And that's really what's happened for me. I was fortunate to be around great players and great coaches that I learned from and places where I won. And when you win, and around teams that win, success comes from that.

What do you take from your high school days that you still implement today? Oh man, I mean, just playing football in general, are you talking about a high school coach or a high school player? Yeah, coaching, coaching, coaching.

Gotcha. Yeah, I mean, every moment is a teachable moment and a learnable moment, and any player will meet the standards that you set, as long as you set clear standards and expectations. But I think you learn that at an early age. If you let things slide by, you know what, your players will let them slide by. But if you hold people accountable and make sure that they understand that you have their best interests at heart, as well as the teams, then everybody can be successful.

But coaching high school was great for me. I got to coach offense early on in high school and learned a lot from those moments. The last thing I'll ask you, we talked about how well-rounded your football team is.

I know a lot of people when we do these national interviews like the highlight on the quarterback and then the coach that you're going up against this week obviously makes a ton of news. But when you look at your defense, if you had to describe your defense as someone that has not seen them yet, what does your defense bring to the table this year? I'd just say strength in numbers. We roll a lot of players, and that's because we have a lot of guys that can play winning football. When you have that, I think you have a chance to be successful because you talk about keys to great defense, and one of them is relentless effort.

You can't give relentless effort if you're playing 85 snaps a game. So we've got a bunch of guys that can go out there and create success for us, and hopefully that will lead to us being successful on Saturday. Well, Coach, it's a monster weekend for college football.

I know a lot of eyes will be on your game up against Colorado. We appreciate you taking some time out with us today. Absolutely. Thanks, Zach.

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