After an incredibly wild week of rumors and false speculations, the Oregon Ducks coaching search has come to an end.
On Saturday afternoon, the Ducks reportedly came to an agreement with former Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Dan Lanning to become the new head coach at Oregon. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said that Lanning will in fact coach in the Orange Bowl, when the Bulldogs will play the Michigan Wolverines in the College Football Playoff on December 30th.
For many Duck fans, this announcement of Lanning as the head coach may come as a bit of a surprise. Over the past several days, a number of names were thrown out as potential candidates, and the 35-year-old defensive stalwart was not often mentioned. Nonetheless, it is an exciting hire for Oregon fans who hope to see the recruiting stay at a similar level as when Mario Cristobal was around, as well as a potential uptick in defensive dominance.
We have already covered who Lanning is, and what he brings to the table, but now we want to take a deeper dive at what we learned from this hire, and the Oregon coaching search in general. Here are some of our biggest takeaways from the hiring: