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Dan Lanning reveals biggest lesson he learned from Nick Saban
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Dan Lanning remains one of the best young head coaches in the world of college football. Throughout his time as an assistant coach, he was able to work with some of the best and brightest in the sport, including Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.
In fact, Lanning spent one season around both national title-winning head coaches during the 2015 season as a graduate assistant for Alabama. At that time, Saban was the dominant head coach in the sport with Smart serving as the program’s long-running defensive coordinator.
Lanning’s breakout moment would come just a few seasons later, when he joined Smart’s Georgia staff as an outside linebackers coach in 2018. One year later, Lanning would add DC responsibilities with the Bulldogs, and Saban recently revealed Smart beat him to the punch of hiring Lanning back in 2018.
Lanning recently made an appearance on Greg McElroy’s “Always College Football” to discuss his run at Oregon, where the Ducks are coming off a Big Ten title with 35-6 overall record in 3 seasons. During that segment, McElroy asked him about the best lesson he’s learned from Saban over the years, and it is all about consistency.
“I just felt that he’s always got a rubric of every situation and how you handle this, how you develop this. The one thing I always learn from coach is how consistent he was in everything he did,” said Dan Lanning about the legendary Saban. “On Tuesday, I’m going to meet with this position group at this time.
“I would say that’s not necessarily me, right? We’re similar in the sense that we want to do things consistently. But it’s always good to take a backseat, pick his brain a bit in how is it developing leadership in young guys and walk me through that.”
Lanning has certainly come into his own as a head coach, including this past season when the Ducks took the Big Ten by storm with a 13-0 record and the No. 1 overall seed in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. Unfortunately, Ohio State would put an end to their season, but Lanning is looking to lead his team on another run this fall.
And he’s going to do it all leaning on the advice he’s learned from one of the best.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.