On Friday, it sounded like the Oregon Ducks made a surprise move in hiring Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as their next head coach.
The move came out of nowhere if only because so much attention had been on Oregon’s push to bring back Chip Kelly. They also recently interviewed with Cal’s Justin Wilcox and BYU’s Kalani Sitake.
However, almost as soon as the news was announced by Chip Towers at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a rebuttal report by The Oregonian’s John Canzano came in via Twitter. Canzano threw cold water on the report, saying that while Lanning is a candidate, he has not officially been hired.
Dan Lanning report is "not accurate,” per reliable source.
Report indicated Dan Lanning was leaving Georgia to become Oregon head coach.
Not true, I’m told.
— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 10, 2021
From there it became a cascading rollcall of tweets from reporters refuting the report that Lanning had been hired by Oregon.
Am told by a source that the report that UGA DC Dan Lanning has been hired as the next head coach at Oregon is not true.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 10, 2021
A source at Oregon says the Ducks have not made any coaching hire at this time. The report of Dan Lanning being hired today is inaccurate.
— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) December 10, 2021
Would be news to Lanning's camp, too, per source. https://t.co/17rb0pecfz
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) December 10, 2021
It’s not often that you say major insiders and big-name newspapers differ so much on a story and all feel strong enough to go public with what their sources are telling them. Usually, one of them says something is happening and then they all follow it up with confirmation.
When in doubt, it seems like a good idea to assume the reputable reporters who follow the school in question are the ones more likely to have the story right. And in their case, they’re all saying that Lanning has not been hired. At least not yet.
I believe Oregon will have a coach by the end of the weekend, but not today.
Also, would be mildly surprised if Ducks hire someone with no HC experience
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) December 10, 2021
Meanwhile, the AJC report has been updated to say that the official announcement won’t come until Monday. So we’ll see.
We’ll see how this wild situation resolves itself. We know that Chip Kelly was considered a major candidate and John Canzano said that there was at least one candidate currently coaching in the NFL. But in the meantime, the college football world is working overtime to figure out what’s happening.
John says its bogus then its bogus https://t.co/FNN5tS5eUN
— Dave “Softy” Mahler (@Softykjr) December 10, 2021
Everyone thought Lanning was the new coach at OU and UO within 6 days. Pretty wild https://t.co/1ndymehYpR
— Graham Coffey (@DawgOutWest) December 10, 2021
Dan Lanning to Oregon is even more absurd than Lincoln Riley to USC and Brian Kelly to LSU (and Dabo Swinney to Oregon).
Yet, in a world where the absurd becomes reality………………. https://t.co/uDm9S4AGjf
— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) December 10, 2021
Not so fast on the Lanning announcement? 🤔
These are always fun because you see who's reliable. AJC vs 247… get ready? FIGHT! https://t.co/seRtgBNVw4
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 10, 2021
The vociferous up and down denials from the U of O is interesting, to say the least. https://t.co/FmEBzMQS0x
— Andrew G. Haubner (@A_G_Haubner) December 10, 2021
This is fascinating. AJC isn't just some random website. https://t.co/WnGvn8hX7w
— Jeremy Kawika (@JeremyKawika) December 10, 2021
[AJC, John Canzano]
