Where is Dan Lanning's proper place among all of the rest of college football coaches?
For whatever reason, Monday was college football coach rankings day online, and as no surprise to anyone, Oregon Ducks' head coach Dan Lanning was a serious topic of debate.
Lanning is largely talked about as one of the elite coaches in the sport. He is an incredible recruiter, he is a great motivator, his teams are always so disciplined. However, he lacks the ability to win in the playoffs.
College Football fans can be crazy in their own way, and everyone falls victim to it. We are so addicted and connected to winning the championship that everything leading up to it goes largely unnoticed.
Only one team leaves the season crowned the champion and will always be remembered as such. But there is a lot of credit lost in getting to the postseason and winning in the postseason.
Two things can be true here. In the last two years, Oregon has gone 26-3 with three losses to Ohio State and Indiana, both the eventual national champions, and the patience for Lanning is running thin.
He isn't on the hot seat right now, and he likely won't be on it if things don't go well next year either.
But if he doesn't get the title next year, the conversations are going to get very loud. The flip side of that is if he does win it, he is the Oregon coach for life, no questions asked.
Now, compared to the rest of the coaches in the country, where does Lanning land? Two of the major college football analysts weighed in on the conversation, and there were two very different spots.
The first was Josh Pate, who used three years' worth of data to rank his coaches and came up with Lanning firmly at No. 4, the first coach who doesn't have a National Championship to his resume.
The second was Bartsool Sports' Brandon Walker, who had Lanning in a much different position. Walked listed Lanning as the No. 8 coach behind the likes of Lane Kiffin, Mario Cristobal, Marcus Freeman, and Steve Sarkisian.
I don't find any flaws with Lanning being named behind Curt Cignetti, Ryan Day, and Kirby Smart, but man, I have some questions about dropping him any further than that.
Lanning isn't the perfect coach, but I still do believe he is one of the best.
2026 is Lanning's opportunity to silence all of the noise if he does get it done. If he doesn't, it will only amplify it to another level.