Oregon Ducks Coach Standing Strong: Defying Reports Of Heading To Alabama

The Oregon Ducks appear to have a coach who will honor his commitment for the short and long term. Despite some calling or instigating the rumors of Dan Lanning being in Alabama for the surprising vacancy may have been premature.

Dan Lanning has been confirmed by multiple sources to be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama but it is not clear as to the exact reason why. It’s possible that he wanted to wish a longtime coaching colleague from his grad assistant days well. But that, of course, remains the most unlikely of reasons why Lanning whould opt to take a sudden flight from Eugene, Oregon to the home of Alabama football.

It is likely that he wanted to use this opportunity to prepare himself for possible future upward moves, and to display leverage. The adage of any interview is a good one meaning that even if you do not intend to accept a job position, it never hurts to see how you stack up in an interview environment and to see what potential employers and the landscape are looking for.

It is also possible that he wanted to show and remind the Oregon Ducks what a commodity he could be in the open market. Knowing that college football is all about recruiting, one of the bigger recruiting jobs occurs behind closed doors when searching for the next head coach.

With nothing confirmed as of now, it’s hard to see how some dominos will continue to fall as a result of this latest visit.

Oregon Ducks Potential Big Move

An underrated aspect of Coach Saban’s electing to retire is that this opens the transfer opportunity for all student-athletes in the Alabama roster. Some are speculating that Lanning actually went down to Alabama in order to persuade Caleb Downs to join the Orgon Ducks next season.

This would be a huge pickup for what has already been a successful recruiting period for Lanning. The talented standout safety put up solid performances as a freshman and would be a great help for the Oregon Ducks in the new Big Ten realigned conference.