January 29, 2024 • 28 mins
University of Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning joins George Wrighster on the Unafraid Show to talk about his path to becoming a college coach, his journey in college football, his loyalty to Oregon in the coaching carousel process, and the challenges of being a husband and father.
Lanning also joins George for a game of Wrighster or Wrong and talks about cooking, his favorite movies, which college coaches give the best tongue lashing, and more. #oregonducks #danlanning #oregonfootball
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now we're joined by Oregon head coach mister Dan Landing. Dan,
thanks for coming on the show, man, George, thanks for
having me all right. So I want to I want
to go back, way way back. So you're a North
Kansas City kid. What was life like for young Dan
Landing in middle school? High school?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, I grew up loving sports.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm actually from a really small town outside of North
kans I'm I'm from a town called Richmond, Missouri.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's like five thousand people, so small town. Man. Both
my parents were teachers.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
My grandpa had a farm, so we kind of grew
up out on the gravel road out there, but grew
up loving sports and got to have some great coaches.
But that's that's probably where it all started for me.
You know, I was the guy that did them all.
I did baseball, basketball, football. It was lucky to be
in a place that was a great place to grow up.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And now now I want to fast forward to twenty eleven.
You are a high school coach and you decide you
got a wife, you you got a kid, she's pregnant,
and you decide to make a thirteen hour drive to
Pittsburgh on a leap of faith, What was going on
with that thirteen hour drive when you were trying to
(01:15):
get a job.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, I mean so, to be honest, I was an
elementary pteacher as a high school football coach, and I
just had this hunger to do something, maybe at a
little bit higher level, to get a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
More entrenched in football.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I didn't know really where that would be, but for
you know, for about three years, I was trying to
get my foot in the door. And anybody that's tried
to get into coach, he realizes how hard it really
is to get your foot in the door. And you know,
I finally got in a bite. I'd gotten a phone
call that said, hey, we might we might have a
job for you. We'll call you back, and they never
called back. And one of my big things is you
(01:50):
never want to live, you know, life with regrets. So
the fact that they called that was enough of a
foot in the door that made me want to get
in that car and drive thirteen hours after I got
done teaching class that day and run the weight room and.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Got the car and drove out there.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And the whole time I'm trying to prep myself for
what I might say, because I didn't have an interview
set up. I didn't have an opportunity set up, but
I just want to get there and see if I can,
you know, make a run at it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So you get there and the coaches aren't even there.
They're off doing something else. What was the waiting game
like the next day? And did you even think that
they would see you?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So I get right before I get to the facility,
I pull over to a gas station. I put a
suit on. It's early in the morning because I drove
through the night, So I'm waiting in the lobby. It's
like six am, seven am. I don't know how I
got in the door, honestly, but eventually a GA comes
up the stairs.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
His name is Eric Thatcher.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
He works for the forty nine ers now, and he's like, yeah,
all the coaches, they're in Happy Valley. They're doing a
coaching clinic. So I actually hung out the rest of
the day with him. There's a secretary there that didn't
want to share the defensive coordinator's number with me. So
I think once you realized, like, no, I drove thirteen hours,
I'm gonna wait till I get to talk to somebody.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
She got me on the phone with the defensive corderic.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Keith Patterson, and I found out he was gonna be
back the next day. So got a hotel room. Uh,
stayed the night and got a visit with him, and yeah,
that was the beginning. So got got offered a job
for eight hundred bucks a month. I think that's back
when they called that quality control. I don't know what
it is now, but that was that was the first Uh,
that was the first stab of college coaching.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
How much pressure was that on you as a as
a husband and as a father. You were a teacher
and now you're going to go make it eight hundred
bucks but you're pursuing your your dream. But at the
same time you got a family to take care of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I don't know that I ever put enough thought into
it to realize the risk, you know, And it's something
you look back at now and you laugh at. You know,
I had because I've been teaching for about two and
a half years, I had teaching retirement. So I pulled
you know, you kind of you you're all in. You
put all your chips to the table. So I pulled
my teacher retirement. That was about eighteen thousand dollars and
(04:04):
I pulled that out, so I knew that, you know,
we can make it work. You know, that was back
when I would pay like all my rent like ten
or like eight months in advance because I didn't want
to be able to say two months later, I don't
have any money for rent, So I paid. I remember
the owner of the house that we were in, see
(04:26):
you eight months right now, because I don't I if
I have this money of my.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Life, hold on ken hold on Kenna. You repeat that again,
because you broke up for a second. You you were saying,
I remember the owner of the house.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah. The owner of the house was saying, you know, wait,
what do you want to do us? I want to pay.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I want to pay eight months rent right now, because
I knew I had eight.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Months rent at least in the bank. So yeah, we
paid all of our rent in advance.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Uh, just so I can make sure later on I
wasn't gonna run out of the door to be able
to afford.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
To stay there. Nah.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
That that is So, what was that moment your biggest
leap of faith in life?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, I'd probably say for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You know, later on in my career, I'm at Sam
Houston State and I'm finally a full time coach.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I'm coaching the DBS.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I wasn't making James Changing money, but I was, you know,
kind of all my way to have some success. And
you know, at that point my career, I got offered
an opportunity to go be a graduate assistant in Alabama
and it was kind of the same thing. You were
gonna step backwards financially to step forwards from an opportunity standpoint.
So from a financial standpoint at that point, I had
three kids and I was gonna go back and make
(05:38):
around make make twelve hundred. You know, I figured out
what caused that, Georgia, I stopped doing that. Yeah, and
we were gonna make twelve hundred bucks a month. But
for me, it was always about chasing opportunity, not chasing
the dollar. And it's kind of paid off.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
And what was that conversation with your wife like when
you're like, hey, baby, I know that we gotta stay
income right here, but I'm gonna go back to twelve hundred.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
She You know what's crazy. My wife has always been
on board. She's always known kind of my dreams and aspirations.
And I still have the voicemail saved on my phone
from coach Saban Colin and offer me an opportunity there
and Alabama, and I you know, we sat in my
living room there in Huntsville, Texas, and I think we
played that voicemail like fifteen times.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She's like, you can't say no to Nick Saban, and
she was right. I couldn't. That was an opportunity I
couldn't pass up.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So I've been lucky to have you know, Sophia has
been a great support this entire track.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now, let's fast forward to two thousand, December eleventh, twenty
twenty one. You get named and you get the job
at Oregon. What point in time in that season where
you thinking, when you're at Georgia, you're the defensive coordinator
and one of the best defenses that we've seen, and
you're like, hold up, I actually might get it head
(07:00):
coaching jobs.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You know, honestly, I've just always been wired to work
wherever you're at extremely hard. You never really know what
opportunities would come. But it was it was honestly always.
It was never really in the front of my mind.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You know. What was in the front of.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
My mind was competing for a championship, having a really
great defense, you know, working your tail off to be
good where you're at, and you know, it's really the
way it played out for me. Every opportunity is come,
you know, for being you know, being where your feet
are at and taking care of business at home and
the rest takes care of itself. Now, I knew we
were having a pretty electric season, and I knew opportunities
would come, but it was never really about pursuing those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It's about being great at Georgia.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
See that makes sense now, Now that goes to you know,
obviously your name has been mentioned with all sorts of
coaching jobs Texas, a and m Alabama. What has made
you want to stay at in U Gene knowing that
in the coaching world and out in you know, out
in the world, people are like Alabama, Georgia in Texas
(08:01):
and that these are the places that you're supposed to
want to be in.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, one is because I think we can make work
in that place. I truly believe everything's in place here
for this to be as good at coaching job and
it's good of university uh as there is in college football.
I think that exists right here in Oregon and then two,
you know, organ took a chance on me, right, and
(08:26):
who would I be to to come here, have some
success and then ride off into the sunset whenever? Uh,
they said, you know what, then we trust you with
our program. We're gonna pour everything we have into you
being successful. I'm not gonna leave that. That's that's you know,
I recognize the risks that they took to get me here.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Why do you think that that that's kind of a
prevailing thing in college football? And not not necessarily to
down any other cult or their their decisions, because everybody's
got to make the best decision for themselves. But why
do you think that there's less of it? Seems like
that there are less coaches that are having that mentality
about it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, I think you know, any job that anybody's in,
there's wars, right, There's things that exist. And I think
there's this perception when you go somewhere else, that's not
going to be there. And I always tell our players
the same thing, like, once you're not good at one place,
that's gonna follow you somewhere else. Unlet's get better at it.
So I'm I'm you know, a lot more focused on
water in the playing where I'm at. And again, I
(09:26):
never as a kid growing up for Richard, Missouri, I
never my wildest greaming stream that I get the opportunity
to head coach in Oregon. And I'm certainly not going
to take that for granted now.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And I've heard you say before that the job's not
finished up? What is the job.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
To make Oregon, you know, the best job in college football?
You know, I've got goals and aspirations just you know,
no bones about it. We want to win championships year
and I think the things should that we're building or
putting us in position to be able to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
So when will the job be done?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You know, I don't know when, you know, there's always
you know, I think people that want to grow and
people that are successful they're always looking for a win improve.
So even if a championship comes at some point for
us here, I don't know that I'll feel like it's
done then either. You know, it's if you can make
it better. There's an opportunity to keep continue to improve.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well that's good, dudes. So as being the head coach
of a premier program like Oregon, you're on the road
right now, recruiting, and it takes a lot of time
away from your family. How do you balance your commitment
to Oregon and your commitment to your family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You got you gotta have dedicated time. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It's the same conversation I had with our guys, like sacrifice,
when we talk about sacrifice in our room, I put
a safe in the front of the team room and
I open that safe up and I say, for it
to be a sacrifice, it has to be something valuable.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So for me, that's that's my time with my family.
I'm sacrificing that for us to be successful. But my
family knows that too. But when you are at home, uh,
you gotta be You got to be invested, right. You
got to find times to have real conversations with your kids,
spend some quality time with your wife. And what we
do a good job of is laying out the time
we have and maximizing each moment.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
As a football coach, you have to compete. You got
to compete for recruit you got to compete for wins,
you got to compete to keep your staff. And you
had to watch your wife compete in what was her
biggest battle, which was a cancer battle. What did you
learn from watching her fight that fight?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Well, probably the first thing I learned was football is
not that important. And that was a good reset that
I needed in my life. You know, at this point,
I've been chasing a lot of opportunities. I've been you know, ambitious,
and you know, whenever you find out your wife's sick,
the only thing you're worried about is her being healthy
and your three boys after a mom And that was
(11:51):
a really good reset for me. You learn how many
people care about you and care about you more than
just as a football coach too. I had a great
group to support it me, you know, during that time,
support our family during that time. But when you're sitting
at the hospital and your wife's in chemotherapy on Valentine's Day,
that puts things in perspective for you. And it's it's
(12:12):
something that I hope nobody ever gets to experience. But
I'll say this, like, through that adversity, it made our
family stronger.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, and you are a family man, a great husband.
And I remember Cortez Hankton, he told me when you
first got the job, he asked me, I asked you,
I asked him about you. Excuse me and I said,
what do you think about this, dude? And he was like, man,
he's as solid as it as it gets. And you
have a tattoo of your wife's face, and it has
(12:42):
a bunch of little itty bitty tattoos of all your stops.
You know, it's got Alabama, it's got Georgia's got Oregon
and everybody in between. What was the impetus for that tattoo?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So I like tattoos. I'm kind of weird when it
comes to that, and I always joke around. My wife
was like, like, I like gals that have tats, but
I know Sophia is never gonna have one. How would
I get a tattoo? And it was kind of a
surprise to her. I came home that day with and
she's like, I can't believe you did this. But our journey,
you know, that's like it's our story. That's that's part
(13:14):
of what's made this adventure so fun for us. So
I just want to get something that may be kind
of symbolized, you know, where we've been, what we've.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Experienced to get here, and you know that that journey's
not over with. But that was that was kind of
the inspiration for that.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So we we don't see the tattoo when you're in
your and your your coaching gear and all of that.
Where is the tattoo?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I was hoping nobody. I was hoping nobody would ever
see that tattoo. But somehow it hit the light of
day and it became everybody else's tattoos.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
So I got it on my side. I'll tell you this.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
The tattoo artist asked me before I got it. He
was like, do you want to get this numbing cream?
And I'm like, no, man, I'm good. About halfway through.
About halfway through, I'm like, I'm an idiot. I should
have give me whatever you got. Because I walk out
of there with the side like a side piece of
half of my wife's body on there.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I was almost done. It hurts.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Hey, that's funny because my son who's seventeen, he just
dropped him off of college and he's like, Dad, I
want to get a tattooed. He wants to get it
on his side too.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
He was to get a whole Bible verse everything first.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, better get that number cream. And you have all
the logos from the stops that you've been. Is there
any significance about the location on your wife's face of
on your wife's head, you know, body of those.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Nouh just wanted to find a spot. You'll put it one.
We're kind of sitting down designing it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And no, they're all in different spots, but there's no
not a lot of rhyme or reason to where they're at. Okay,
all I knew was I wanted that organ old that
next that or on the neck tand I thought that'd
be kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's dope.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Got that.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That means the old got you in the choke?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hold love it? That's it. I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah. And you went from obviously being a kid and
from like like you said, small town. You went to
William Jewell working at outback when you meet your wife,
you gotta drive the pit for a job for eight
(15:15):
hundred bucks. You end up at you know, Bama, Memphis, Georgia,
everywhere in between. Then you get the Oregon head coaching job.
Fast forward, you are at the National Championship hanging out
in a suite with Michael Jordan, Jeter, Travis Scott, everybody else.
What was that like?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, it's those moments you got to pinch yourself and say,
how the heck did I end up here? Like I
hope they don't realize I'm in this room. I'm not
the guy who's supposed to be in this room. But
that's part of what Oregon, you know, that's part of
what opportunities that organ can provide, not just you know,
me as the coach, but our players that come here.
I think you start to realize the doors that Oregon
opens up, you know, for people, and the opportunity to
(15:55):
work around great people that I've been around has created
a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Of success and opportunity for me.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So when you can maximize those opportunities, you know, it's
amazing what God to put in front of your life.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Was there a moment or something that happened when you
guys were at the suite that that you can share
with us that that you remember.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
There's a lot that I remember that sweet I'll tell this.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I was I was visiting with Michael about a recruit
that we're trying to get, trying to sign it as
a d lineman from his neck of the woods, and
he's like, come on, man, you gotta let me have
one of them come you know, North Carolina. It's like, sorry,
not not this one. So uh we uh. It's fun
being around those guys. You know, you hang on to
(16:36):
every word right when you hear. When you hear people like, uh,
m J speak or Jeter speak, you know, that's a
pretty unique opportunity to say the least.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You Hey, man, it must must be nice on the
first name basis with Mike. Oh man, it's just MJ.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This is MJ. I don't know what that. I don't
know that they fight like that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I just watched Dave Chappelle's new new comedy show and
he talked about being a powerful dreamer. So did you
have this dream? And did you know that this was
going to happen?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So I've always you know, I tell everybody in our
staff this.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I always write my goals, Like my goals are on
my mirror, in my in my house, I take a
dry race marker and I've written my goals ever since
I've been at Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I put my goals on my maror.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I got some short term goals, I got some long
term goals, Like when I was at ASU, I remember
having on there teaching Kate and how to ride a bike.
Like that's a goal, right, and that changes, right, your
goals change, but you know it's crazy. Is back at
Arizona State in twenty thirteen, one of my goals on
there was to be a head coach at thirty five,
and you know, I actually became the head coach of
Oregon at thirty five, which is crazy because you know,
(17:43):
after my wife got sick, that was never on my mirror.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Again, that was never a goal.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
But you're brushing your teeth every single morning, you keep
those goals and aspirations right in front of you. I
truly believe you can speak things in the happening and
speak victory over you know, success in your life.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So yeah, I'm a big goal setter. I definitely have
big dreams.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I never thought that I'd be living my dreams like
I am today, But I certainly don't take it for
granted either.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
What's on the mirror now?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I got two goals in my mirror right now and
I'm about to add another one.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
But the two goals in my mirror right now, Number.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
One help my people reach their goals and their dreams,
like I feel like I'm living mine. So my number
one goal right now is to help somebody else live there.
And number two's national champion. You know, I've done it
before as an assistant, but I want to be able
to do that as a head coach.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
When what advice would you give to a younger the
younger Dan Lanning or the you know, the fifteen year old,
the twenty one year old that's saying I want that,
I want that life.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, just keep chasing your dream. Make sure you're doing
something that you're passionate about.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I think it's harder and harder for younger you know,
younger kids and younger people in the world, because you
get so much of your internal the way you feel
about yourself internally from outside noise. And ignoring that outside noise,
I think it's louder than it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
If you're doing something right, you're gonna have haters.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
That's that's the reality, and ignore that, keep your head
down and focus on the main goal.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You know. That's that's what I would tell myself.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
As a head coach. How do you manage all the
highs and the lows that a season takes, recruiting season takes,
and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, I mean, I think the thing we talk about
red light, green light, Like what's in your control what's
not in your control, and I want to do absolutely
anything and everything I can that's in my control.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Uh to dictate that.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
But you know, one of the things that is different
about being a college coach and being an NFL coach.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You know, in college, you can lose on.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
A Wednesday in June because you lose the recruit You know,
in the NFL, you're only gonna lose on Sundays. And
I think you know, the managing of a whole organization,
you know what that looks like. Being able to, you know,
have these recruiting battles where you're trying to find the
right people that fit what you need.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You got to be able to learn that there's gonna
be wins and losses.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
But you better worry about the guys you do get,
you know, worry about the guys that are joining your program.
Don't worry about the ones you don't have. And then
you know, charity starts at home. Man, you got to
take care of what you do have. You know, like
I said, Flower the plant that you got, and we
focus a lot on developing the players.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
That are on our team.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Like that's one of my biggest worries right now is
we're on the road recruiting, but I've got a phenomenal
staff at home that are pouring into our players, whether
it's player personnel or strength staff or operation staff that
are doing things for us there. And trust the people
you hire, you know, hire people that think outside the box,
that are go getters. You got to tell woe not
go And I'm really blessed to have that.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
In organ.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What is the best advice that you've gotten from either
Nick Saban or Kurby smart Man.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You know, they're both, They're both different dudes that are
that are the best that they're in their profession.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You know, the best I've ever been around.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I think, you know, the one thing I'll say
is watching both of them, they've been true to themselves.
You know, Nick is a robot. It's amazing to watch
this guy operate. You know seven, you know, seven o'clock,
the sun's gonna come up in Tuscalose at seven thirty,
he was gonna be parked with this you know button
that that seat for the staff meeting and it was
like clockwork.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
One thing that you know I always thought made him
good was his routine.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know what he ate in the morning. He was consistent.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
We talk about in our program that twenty mile march,
you know, be able to do march twenty miles every
day regardless of how you feel, regardless of what the
weather's like. Like, that's Nick. And then I think, you
know one thing that's made Kirby really good is he's
one of the best that I've ever been around in
assessing a situation for strengths and weaknesses and then having
a paint like having a plan or a format or
(21:50):
a game plan for Okay, we can attack that weakness
by doing this drill or changing the way we do
this in our program. So you know, both those guys,
I think some people say they're setting their ways this
they're invested so much in this process, but both of them,
that process would change based on how circumstances and time change.
And as we all know, college football has changed a lot,
you know, not just you know in the outer world
(22:12):
of the portal and nil, but also just the schematics
of the game. And those are guys that were able
to change with times. Is the game change they were
able to adapt.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
As a father, I figured out as my older kids
have gotten older, that they're actually smart people. In I've
actually learned some things about myself from them. What have
you learned being a father to your three boys?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know, one anybody that has kids can tell you this.
Your kids are all individual personality. You feel like you're
raising the same but they couldn't be more polar opposites,
you know, And the transition that happened early on in
our careers and family has really made our boys really malleable.
And I'm really proud of who they're becoming. But they
all have their own individuals. You know, some could care
(23:02):
My middle son now, I could care less about sports.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He brings a book to the games. He's reading his
book in the middle of the games. And I always thought,
you know, all three of my boys would be infatuated
with sports, kind of like I was, And uh, that's
not the case. But I love the spirit and enthusiasm
they have about what they are interested in. And even
though all of them are all different, I'm really proud
to have really good kids.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
The state of college football right right now, this is
something that bucks me a little bit when I hear
when I see coaches, you know, making one percent money
and they're complaining about the walls. It's so hard being
a college football coach to transfer portal. It's just terrible. Uh,
Like is the state of college football, you know, ruined
(23:46):
right there?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Not at all? Have to die? Right Like.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's a hard job, but you know what you take
care of to do a hard job. And uh, I
love it like it's competitive.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
It's if I was in real estate. I want to
be the best at it.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And I promise you it's not easy, right Like, mortgage
rates are up, Like who cares?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Like go sell a house?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Right And it's the same thing in college football is changing.
It's gonna be the game of who can adapt and
who can do it right? And can can some things
change about the rules to make the game better.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Absolutely, But that's not the job.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
That I'm in charge of, right My job is to
be the best coach that can possibly be. And you
can sit around a complain. Everybody's got a job somewhere
in America right now. That's like I said, there's warts,
there's something to complain about. But while they're complaining, I'm
gonna be working.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Love it, love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So now, is there a special cigar because you've been
on Instagram putting smoking a cigar Twitter, wherever you post
it it, is there a special cigar you guys saved
up for when you hoist that national trope, national championship.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
You just put a new thought in my head. You know,
I don't. I don't have one ready, but I'm sure
i'll find one that day.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
No out it'd probably be uh, you know, opus x
is my guess, something like that, or maybe a nice Cuban,
But I you know, I don't. I don't have a
plan for that right now. I gotta focus on today
before we get to that point.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, I I so I heard about something, and I
know that you're big on loyalty, and and I heard
about this group chat that you've had with your with
your friends that you've had for a very long time,
and that you are actually the one that planned your
uh you you guys as guys trip every single year.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You just some pigging man. I'm impressed. Yeah, we got
a uh, we got a crew. We're going.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
We going in somewhere different every year. It's a lot
of fun to stay connected. You know, my friends with
my friends, they'll always be my friends. And h we
got a group that's really really tight, really really close.
We got a buddy this year that you know, is
in our group that's getting married in Miami.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So the trip this year is gonna be down in Miami.
So pray for me.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So when so when they say that you that you
plan the trip, like, how much planning is Dan Lanning doing?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I mean it's not that, it's not that hard. We
just at the end of the day, it's about the fellowship. Yeah, uh,
we're making fun. Man, we'll go we'll get a deep
sea fishing trip somewhere. As as the jobs have gotten better,
some of our trips and adventures bed so you know.
Before yeah, before we being you know, one of our
(26:27):
backyards hanging out with each other. Now now we get
to go do some fun things. But yeah, we'll see,
we'll see what it involves it. At the end of
the day, there's gonna be some sort of competition in there.
You know, we always compete even though we're older guys.
Now we'll compete.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Who are some people that are in the group.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Chat mostly Uh really it's a big group from my
college group. It was about nine of us. But I
don't know if it's like a sworn to secrecy type group.
Most of these guys I played college. I played I
played college ball with most of these guys are some
high school coaches in that, you know, in that group
with us just great friends. And really again, it's like
(27:03):
great friends from college that we just stay connected. And
I'm laughing because this chat was popping off today already,
so it's it's something that's been active. It started off
as an email chain and now it's text message thread.
But uh yeah, we uh we stay pretty active on there.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So it's a fun crew.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And you said that that that you like to compete,
So I'm assuming that now that you've gotten into golf
a little bit, that y'all compete in some golf. So
where are you in your fing in your friend group
in terms of good golfer?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Luckily, all of us are horrible at golf. We love
the golf, but none of us are good like that.
There's some guys that are gonna pretend that they're good,
but we're all about those twenty handicappers or worse. So, uh,
we gotta make it a scramble for it to be fun.
Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, and I know that you love movies too. What
are your favorite movies?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I got a top five part time picking one.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So, uh, top five movies for me Roger Tradition Departed seven, Uh,
lots of the Mohicans, Jonah Blank here.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Maybe, Oh, mister River, mister River.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That's that's another top So they're all kind of depressing
drama movies. You know, some people give me a hard time.
I don't have like wedding Crashes in there. I love
that movie, but that's not my top five. It's gotta
be artistic, man, it's gotta have.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
The storyboine it.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
She's stage five, Clinger. I love wedding Grasses Coach, thanks
for coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Appreciate it. George, I have a good
And now we're joined by Oregon head coach mister Dan Landing. Dan,
thanks for coming on the show, man, George, thanks for
having me all right. So I want to I want
to go back, way way back. So you're a North
Kansas City kid. What was life like for young Dan
Landing in middle school? High school?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, I grew up loving sports.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm actually from a really small town outside of North
kans I'm I'm from a town called Richmond, Missouri.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's like five thousand people, so small town. Man. Both
my parents were teachers.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
My grandpa had a farm, so we kind of grew
up out on the gravel road out there, but grew
up loving sports and got to have some great coaches.
But that's that's probably where it all started for me.
You know, I was the guy that did them all.
I did baseball, basketball, football. It was lucky to be
in a place that was a great place to grow up.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And now now I want to fast forward to twenty eleven.
You are a high school coach and you decide you
got a wife, you you got a kid, she's pregnant,
and you decide to make a thirteen hour drive to
Pittsburgh on a leap of faith, What was going on
with that thirteen hour drive when you were trying to
(01:15):
get a job.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, I mean so, to be honest, I was an
elementary pteacher as a high school football coach, and I
just had this hunger to do something, maybe at a
little bit higher level, to get a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
More entrenched in football.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I didn't know really where that would be, but for
you know, for about three years, I was trying to
get my foot in the door. And anybody that's tried
to get into coach, he realizes how hard it really
is to get your foot in the door. And you know,
I finally got in a bite. I'd gotten a phone
call that said, hey, we might we might have a
job for you. We'll call you back, and they never
called back. And one of my big things is you
(01:50):
never want to live, you know, life with regrets. So
the fact that they called that was enough of a
foot in the door that made me want to get
in that car and drive thirteen hours after I got
done teaching class that day and run the weight room and.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Got the car and drove out there.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And the whole time I'm trying to prep myself for
what I might say, because I didn't have an interview
set up. I didn't have an opportunity set up, but
I just want to get there and see if I can,
you know, make a run at it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So you get there and the coaches aren't even there.
They're off doing something else. What was the waiting game
like the next day? And did you even think that
they would see you?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So I get right before I get to the facility,
I pull over to a gas station. I put a
suit on. It's early in the morning because I drove
through the night, So I'm waiting in the lobby. It's
like six am, seven am. I don't know how I
got in the door, honestly, but eventually a GA comes
up the stairs.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
His name is Eric Thatcher.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
He works for the forty nine ers now, and he's like, yeah,
all the coaches, they're in Happy Valley. They're doing a
coaching clinic. So I actually hung out the rest of
the day with him. There's a secretary there that didn't
want to share the defensive coordinator's number with me. So
I think once you realized, like, no, I drove thirteen hours,
I'm gonna wait till I get to talk to somebody.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
She got me on the phone with the defensive corderic.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Keith Patterson, and I found out he was gonna be
back the next day. So got a hotel room. Uh,
stayed the night and got a visit with him, and yeah,
that was the beginning. So got got offered a job
for eight hundred bucks a month. I think that's back
when they called that quality control. I don't know what
it is now, but that was that was the first Uh,
that was the first stab of college coaching.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
How much pressure was that on you as a as
a husband and as a father. You were a teacher
and now you're going to go make it eight hundred
bucks but you're pursuing your your dream. But at the
same time you got a family to take care of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I don't know that I ever put enough thought into
it to realize the risk, you know, And it's something
you look back at now and you laugh at. You know,
I had because I've been teaching for about two and
a half years, I had teaching retirement. So I pulled
you know, you kind of you you're all in. You
put all your chips to the table. So I pulled
my teacher retirement. That was about eighteen thousand dollars and
(04:04):
I pulled that out, so I knew that, you know,
we can make it work. You know, that was back
when I would pay like all my rent like ten
or like eight months in advance because I didn't want
to be able to say two months later, I don't
have any money for rent, So I paid. I remember
the owner of the house that we were in, see
(04:26):
you eight months right now, because I don't I if
I have this money of my.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Life, hold on ken hold on Kenna. You repeat that again,
because you broke up for a second. You you were saying,
I remember the owner of the house.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah. The owner of the house was saying, you know, wait,
what do you want to do us? I want to pay.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I want to pay eight months rent right now, because
I knew I had eight.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Months rent at least in the bank. So yeah, we
paid all of our rent in advance.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Uh, just so I can make sure later on I
wasn't gonna run out of the door to be able
to afford.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
To stay there. Nah.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
That that is So, what was that moment your biggest
leap of faith in life?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, I'd probably say for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You know, later on in my career, I'm at Sam
Houston State and I'm finally a full time coach.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I'm coaching the DBS.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I wasn't making James Changing money, but I was, you know,
kind of all my way to have some success. And
you know, at that point my career, I got offered
an opportunity to go be a graduate assistant in Alabama
and it was kind of the same thing. You were
gonna step backwards financially to step forwards from an opportunity standpoint.
So from a financial standpoint at that point, I had
three kids and I was gonna go back and make
(05:38):
around make make twelve hundred. You know, I figured out
what caused that, Georgia, I stopped doing that. Yeah, and
we were gonna make twelve hundred bucks a month. But
for me, it was always about chasing opportunity, not chasing
the dollar. And it's kind of paid off.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
And what was that conversation with your wife like when
you're like, hey, baby, I know that we gotta stay
income right here, but I'm gonna go back to twelve hundred.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
She You know what's crazy. My wife has always been
on board. She's always known kind of my dreams and aspirations.
And I still have the voicemail saved on my phone
from coach Saban Colin and offer me an opportunity there
and Alabama, and I you know, we sat in my
living room there in Huntsville, Texas, and I think we
played that voicemail like fifteen times.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
She's like, you can't say no to Nick Saban, and
she was right. I couldn't. That was an opportunity I
couldn't pass up.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So I've been lucky to have you know, Sophia has
been a great support this entire track.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now, let's fast forward to two thousand, December eleventh, twenty
twenty one. You get named and you get the job
at Oregon. What point in time in that season where
you thinking, when you're at Georgia, you're the defensive coordinator
and one of the best defenses that we've seen, and
you're like, hold up, I actually might get it head
(07:00):
coaching jobs.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
You know, honestly, I've just always been wired to work
wherever you're at extremely hard. You never really know what
opportunities would come. But it was it was honestly always.
It was never really in the front of my mind.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You know. What was in the front of.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
My mind was competing for a championship, having a really
great defense, you know, working your tail off to be
good where you're at, and you know, it's really the
way it played out for me. Every opportunity is come,
you know, for being you know, being where your feet
are at and taking care of business at home and
the rest takes care of itself. Now, I knew we
were having a pretty electric season, and I knew opportunities
would come, but it was never really about pursuing those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It's about being great at Georgia.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
See that makes sense now, Now that goes to you know,
obviously your name has been mentioned with all sorts of
coaching jobs Texas, a and m Alabama. What has made
you want to stay at in U Gene knowing that
in the coaching world and out in you know, out
in the world, people are like Alabama, Georgia in Texas
(08:01):
and that these are the places that you're supposed to
want to be in.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, one is because I think we can make work
in that place. I truly believe everything's in place here
for this to be as good at coaching job and
it's good of university uh as there is in college football.
I think that exists right here in Oregon and then two,
you know, organ took a chance on me, right, and
(08:26):
who would I be to to come here, have some
success and then ride off into the sunset whenever? Uh,
they said, you know what, then we trust you with
our program. We're gonna pour everything we have into you
being successful. I'm not gonna leave that. That's that's you know,
I recognize the risks that they took to get me here.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Why do you think that that that's kind of a
prevailing thing in college football? And not not necessarily to
down any other cult or their their decisions, because everybody's
got to make the best decision for themselves. But why
do you think that there's less of it? Seems like
that there are less coaches that are having that mentality
about it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, I think you know, any job that anybody's in,
there's wars, right, There's things that exist. And I think
there's this perception when you go somewhere else, that's not
going to be there. And I always tell our players
the same thing, like, once you're not good at one place,
that's gonna follow you somewhere else. Unlet's get better at it.
So I'm I'm you know, a lot more focused on
water in the playing where I'm at. And again, I
(09:26):
never as a kid growing up for Richard, Missouri, I
never my wildest greaming stream that I get the opportunity
to head coach in Oregon. And I'm certainly not going
to take that for granted now.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And I've heard you say before that the job's not
finished up? What is the job.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
To make Oregon, you know, the best job in college football?
You know, I've got goals and aspirations just you know,
no bones about it. We want to win championships year
and I think the things should that we're building or
putting us in position to be able to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
So when will the job be done?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You know, I don't know when, you know, there's always
you know, I think people that want to grow and
people that are successful they're always looking for a win improve.
So even if a championship comes at some point for
us here, I don't know that I'll feel like it's
done then either. You know, it's if you can make
it better. There's an opportunity to keep continue to improve.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well that's good, dudes. So as being the head coach
of a premier program like Oregon, you're on the road
right now, recruiting, and it takes a lot of time
away from your family. How do you balance your commitment
to Oregon and your commitment to your family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You got you gotta have dedicated time. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
It's the same conversation I had with our guys, like sacrifice,
when we talk about sacrifice in our room, I put
a safe in the front of the team room and
I open that safe up and I say, for it
to be a sacrifice, it has to be something valuable.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So for me, that's that's my time with my family.
I'm sacrificing that for us to be successful. But my
family knows that too. But when you are at home, uh,
you gotta be You got to be invested, right. You
got to find times to have real conversations with your kids,
spend some quality time with your wife. And what we
do a good job of is laying out the time
we have and maximizing each moment.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
As a football coach, you have to compete. You got
to compete for recruit you got to compete for wins,
you got to compete to keep your staff. And you
had to watch your wife compete in what was her
biggest battle, which was a cancer battle. What did you
learn from watching her fight that fight?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Well, probably the first thing I learned was football is
not that important. And that was a good reset that
I needed in my life. You know, at this point,
I've been chasing a lot of opportunities. I've been you know, ambitious,
and you know, whenever you find out your wife's sick,
the only thing you're worried about is her being healthy
and your three boys after a mom And that was
(11:51):
a really good reset for me. You learn how many
people care about you and care about you more than
just as a football coach too. I had a great
group to support it me, you know, during that time,
support our family during that time. But when you're sitting
at the hospital and your wife's in chemotherapy on Valentine's Day,
that puts things in perspective for you. And it's it's
(12:12):
something that I hope nobody ever gets to experience. But
I'll say this, like, through that adversity, it made our
family stronger.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, and you are a family man, a great husband.
And I remember Cortez Hankton, he told me when you
first got the job, he asked me, I asked you,
I asked him about you. Excuse me and I said,
what do you think about this, dude? And he was like, man,
he's as solid as it as it gets. And you
have a tattoo of your wife's face, and it has
(12:42):
a bunch of little itty bitty tattoos of all your stops.
You know, it's got Alabama, it's got Georgia's got Oregon
and everybody in between. What was the impetus for that tattoo?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So I like tattoos. I'm kind of weird when it
comes to that, and I always joke around. My wife
was like, like, I like gals that have tats, but
I know Sophia is never gonna have one. How would
I get a tattoo? And it was kind of a
surprise to her. I came home that day with and
she's like, I can't believe you did this. But our journey,
you know, that's like it's our story. That's that's part
(13:14):
of what's made this adventure so fun for us. So
I just want to get something that may be kind
of symbolized, you know, where we've been, what we've.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Experienced to get here, and you know that that journey's
not over with. But that was that was kind of
the inspiration for that.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So we we don't see the tattoo when you're in
your and your your coaching gear and all of that.
Where is the tattoo?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I was hoping nobody. I was hoping nobody would ever
see that tattoo. But somehow it hit the light of
day and it became everybody else's tattoos.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
So I got it on my side. I'll tell you this.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
The tattoo artist asked me before I got it. He
was like, do you want to get this numbing cream?
And I'm like, no, man, I'm good. About halfway through.
About halfway through, I'm like, I'm an idiot. I should
have give me whatever you got. Because I walk out
of there with the side like a side piece of
half of my wife's body on there.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I was almost done. It hurts.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Hey, that's funny because my son who's seventeen, he just
dropped him off of college and he's like, Dad, I
want to get a tattooed. He wants to get it
on his side too.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
He was to get a whole Bible verse everything first.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, better get that number cream. And you have all
the logos from the stops that you've been. Is there
any significance about the location on your wife's face of
on your wife's head, you know, body of those.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Nouh just wanted to find a spot. You'll put it one.
We're kind of sitting down designing it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And no, they're all in different spots, but there's no
not a lot of rhyme or reason to where they're at. Okay,
all I knew was I wanted that organ old that
next that or on the neck tand I thought that'd
be kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's dope.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Got that.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
That means the old got you in the choke?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hold love it? That's it. I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah. And you went from obviously being a kid and
from like like you said, small town. You went to
William Jewell working at outback when you meet your wife,
you gotta drive the pit for a job for eight
(15:15):
hundred bucks. You end up at you know, Bama, Memphis, Georgia,
everywhere in between. Then you get the Oregon head coaching job.
Fast forward, you are at the National Championship hanging out
in a suite with Michael Jordan, Jeter, Travis Scott, everybody else.
What was that like?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, it's those moments you got to pinch yourself and say,
how the heck did I end up here? Like I
hope they don't realize I'm in this room. I'm not
the guy who's supposed to be in this room. But
that's part of what Oregon, you know, that's part of
what opportunities that organ can provide, not just you know,
me as the coach, but our players that come here.
I think you start to realize the doors that Oregon
opens up, you know, for people, and the opportunity to
(15:55):
work around great people that I've been around has created
a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Of success and opportunity for me.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So when you can maximize those opportunities, you know, it's
amazing what God to put in front of your life.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Was there a moment or something that happened when you
guys were at the suite that that you can share
with us that that you remember.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
There's a lot that I remember that sweet I'll tell this.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I was I was visiting with Michael about a recruit
that we're trying to get, trying to sign it as
a d lineman from his neck of the woods, and
he's like, come on, man, you gotta let me have
one of them come you know, North Carolina. It's like, sorry,
not not this one. So uh we uh. It's fun
being around those guys. You know, you hang on to
(16:36):
every word right when you hear. When you hear people like, uh,
m J speak or Jeter speak, you know, that's a
pretty unique opportunity to say the least.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You Hey, man, it must must be nice on the
first name basis with Mike. Oh man, it's just MJ.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
This is MJ. I don't know what that. I don't
know that they fight like that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I just watched Dave Chappelle's new new comedy show and
he talked about being a powerful dreamer. So did you
have this dream? And did you know that this was
going to happen?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
So I've always you know, I tell everybody in our
staff this.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I always write my goals, Like my goals are on
my mirror, in my in my house, I take a
dry race marker and I've written my goals ever since
I've been at Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I put my goals on my maror.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I got some short term goals, I got some long
term goals, Like when I was at ASU, I remember
having on there teaching Kate and how to ride a bike.
Like that's a goal, right, and that changes, right, your
goals change, but you know it's crazy. Is back at
Arizona State in twenty thirteen, one of my goals on
there was to be a head coach at thirty five,
and you know, I actually became the head coach of
Oregon at thirty five, which is crazy because you know,
(17:43):
after my wife got sick, that was never on my mirror.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Again, that was never a goal.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
But you're brushing your teeth every single morning, you keep
those goals and aspirations right in front of you. I
truly believe you can speak things in the happening and
speak victory over you know, success in your life.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So yeah, I'm a big goal setter. I definitely have
big dreams.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I never thought that I'd be living my dreams like
I am today, But I certainly don't take it for
granted either.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
What's on the mirror now?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I got two goals in my mirror right now and
I'm about to add another one.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
But the two goals in my mirror right now, Number.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
One help my people reach their goals and their dreams,
like I feel like I'm living mine. So my number
one goal right now is to help somebody else live there.
And number two's national champion. You know, I've done it
before as an assistant, but I want to be able
to do that as a head coach.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
When what advice would you give to a younger the
younger Dan Lanning or the you know, the fifteen year old,
the twenty one year old that's saying I want that,
I want that life.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah, just keep chasing your dream. Make sure you're doing
something that you're passionate about.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I think it's harder and harder for younger you know,
younger kids and younger people in the world, because you
get so much of your internal the way you feel
about yourself internally from outside noise. And ignoring that outside noise,
I think it's louder than it's ever been.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
If you're doing something right, you're gonna have haters.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
That's that's the reality, and ignore that, keep your head
down and focus on the main goal.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You know. That's that's what I would tell myself.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
As a head coach. How do you manage all the
highs and the lows that a season takes, recruiting season takes,
and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, I mean, I think the thing we talk about
red light, green light, Like what's in your control what's
not in your control, and I want to do absolutely
anything and everything I can that's in my control.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Uh to dictate that.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
But you know, one of the things that is different
about being a college coach and being an NFL coach.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You know, in college, you can lose on.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
A Wednesday in June because you lose the recruit You know,
in the NFL, you're only gonna lose on Sundays. And
I think you know, the managing of a whole organization,
you know what that looks like. Being able to, you know,
have these recruiting battles where you're trying to find the
right people that fit what you need.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You got to be able to learn that there's gonna
be wins and losses.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
But you better worry about the guys you do get,
you know, worry about the guys that are joining your program.
Don't worry about the ones you don't have. And then
you know, charity starts at home. Man, you got to
take care of what you do have. You know, like
I said, Flower the plant that you got, and we
focus a lot on developing the players.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
That are on our team.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Like that's one of my biggest worries right now is
we're on the road recruiting, but I've got a phenomenal
staff at home that are pouring into our players, whether
it's player personnel or strength staff or operation staff that
are doing things for us there. And trust the people
you hire, you know, hire people that think outside the box,
that are go getters. You got to tell woe not
go And I'm really blessed to have that.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
In organ.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What is the best advice that you've gotten from either
Nick Saban or Kurby smart Man.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
You know, they're both, They're both different dudes that are
that are the best that they're in their profession.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You know, the best I've ever been around.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I think, you know, the one thing I'll say
is watching both of them, they've been true to themselves.
You know, Nick is a robot. It's amazing to watch
this guy operate. You know seven, you know, seven o'clock,
the sun's gonna come up in Tuscalose at seven thirty,
he was gonna be parked with this you know button
that that seat for the staff meeting and it was
like clockwork.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
One thing that you know I always thought made him
good was his routine.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know what he ate in the morning. He was consistent.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
We talk about in our program that twenty mile march,
you know, be able to do march twenty miles every
day regardless of how you feel, regardless of what the
weather's like. Like, that's Nick. And then I think, you
know one thing that's made Kirby really good is he's
one of the best that I've ever been around in
assessing a situation for strengths and weaknesses and then having
a paint like having a plan or a format or
(21:50):
a game plan for Okay, we can attack that weakness
by doing this drill or changing the way we do
this in our program. So you know, both those guys,
I think some people say they're setting their ways this
they're invested so much in this process, but both of them,
that process would change based on how circumstances and time change.
And as we all know, college football has changed a lot,
you know, not just you know in the outer world
(22:12):
of the portal and nil, but also just the schematics
of the game. And those are guys that were able
to change with times. Is the game change they were
able to adapt.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
As a father, I figured out as my older kids
have gotten older, that they're actually smart people. In I've
actually learned some things about myself from them. What have
you learned being a father to your three boys?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know, one anybody that has kids can tell you this.
Your kids are all individual personality. You feel like you're
raising the same but they couldn't be more polar opposites,
you know, And the transition that happened early on in
our careers and family has really made our boys really malleable.
And I'm really proud of who they're becoming. But they
all have their own individuals. You know, some could care
(23:02):
My middle son now, I could care less about sports.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
He brings a book to the games. He's reading his
book in the middle of the games. And I always thought,
you know, all three of my boys would be infatuated
with sports, kind of like I was, And uh, that's
not the case. But I love the spirit and enthusiasm
they have about what they are interested in. And even
though all of them are all different, I'm really proud
to have really good kids.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
The state of college football right right now, this is
something that bucks me a little bit when I hear
when I see coaches, you know, making one percent money
and they're complaining about the walls. It's so hard being
a college football coach to transfer portal. It's just terrible. Uh,
Like is the state of college football, you know, ruined
(23:46):
right there?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Not at all? Have to die? Right Like.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's a hard job, but you know what you take
care of to do a hard job. And uh, I
love it like it's competitive.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
It's if I was in real estate. I want to
be the best at it.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
And I promise you it's not easy, right Like, mortgage
rates are up, Like who cares?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Like go sell a house?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Right And it's the same thing in college football is changing.
It's gonna be the game of who can adapt and
who can do it right? And can can some things
change about the rules to make the game better.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Absolutely, But that's not the job.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
That I'm in charge of, right My job is to
be the best coach that can possibly be. And you
can sit around a complain. Everybody's got a job somewhere
in America right now. That's like I said, there's warts,
there's something to complain about. But while they're complaining, I'm
gonna be working.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Love it, love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So now, is there a special cigar because you've been
on Instagram putting smoking a cigar Twitter, wherever you post
it it, is there a special cigar you guys saved
up for when you hoist that national trope, national championship.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
You just put a new thought in my head. You know,
I don't. I don't have one ready, but I'm sure
i'll find one that day.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
No out it'd probably be uh, you know, opus x
is my guess, something like that, or maybe a nice Cuban,
But I you know, I don't. I don't have a
plan for that right now. I gotta focus on today
before we get to that point.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, I I so I heard about something, and I
know that you're big on loyalty, and and I heard
about this group chat that you've had with your with
your friends that you've had for a very long time,
and that you are actually the one that planned your
uh you you guys as guys trip every single year.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You just some pigging man. I'm impressed. Yeah, we got
a uh, we got a crew. We're going.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
We going in somewhere different every year. It's a lot
of fun to stay connected. You know, my friends with
my friends, they'll always be my friends. And h we
got a group that's really really tight, really really close.
We got a buddy this year that you know, is
in our group that's getting married in Miami.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So the trip this year is gonna be down in Miami.
So pray for me.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So when so when they say that you that you
plan the trip, like, how much planning is Dan Lanning doing?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I mean it's not that, it's not that hard. We
just at the end of the day, it's about the fellowship. Yeah, uh,
we're making fun. Man, we'll go we'll get a deep
sea fishing trip somewhere. As as the jobs have gotten better,
some of our trips and adventures bed so you know.
Before yeah, before we being you know, one of our
(26:27):
backyards hanging out with each other. Now now we get
to go do some fun things. But yeah, we'll see,
we'll see what it involves it. At the end of
the day, there's gonna be some sort of competition in there.
You know, we always compete even though we're older guys.
Now we'll compete.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Who are some people that are in the group.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Chat mostly Uh really it's a big group from my
college group. It was about nine of us. But I
don't know if it's like a sworn to secrecy type group.
Most of these guys I played college. I played I
played college ball with most of these guys are some
high school coaches in that, you know, in that group
with us just great friends. And really again, it's like
(27:03):
great friends from college that we just stay connected. And
I'm laughing because this chat was popping off today already,
so it's it's something that's been active. It started off
as an email chain and now it's text message thread.
But uh yeah, we uh we stay pretty active on there.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So it's a fun crew.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And you said that that that you like to compete,
So I'm assuming that now that you've gotten into golf
a little bit, that y'all compete in some golf. So
where are you in your fing in your friend group
in terms of good golfer?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Luckily, all of us are horrible at golf. We love
the golf, but none of us are good like that.
There's some guys that are gonna pretend that they're good,
but we're all about those twenty handicappers or worse. So, uh,
we gotta make it a scramble for it to be fun.
Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, and I know that you love movies too. What
are your favorite movies?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I got a top five part time picking one.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
So, uh, top five movies for me Roger Tradition Departed seven, Uh,
lots of the Mohicans, Jonah Blank here.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Maybe, Oh, mister River, mister River.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
That's that's another top So they're all kind of depressing
drama movies. You know, some people give me a hard time.
I don't have like wedding Crashes in there. I love
that movie, but that's not my top five. It's gotta
be artistic, man, it's gotta have.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
The storyboine it.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
She's stage five, Clinger. I love wedding Grasses Coach, thanks
for coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Appreciate it. George, I have a good
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