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Within the past week, the Oregon Ducks have hired three coaches whose combined ages add up to 100 years old. Only one of those coaches has spent any time in the position that he was hired in. The other two are taking on new roles at new schools, with the eyes of the nation watching.
I’m talking about head coach Dan Lanning (35), offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham (31), and co-defensive coordinator Matt Powledge (34), of course. After making Lanning the youngest head coach in Oregon history on Monday, the Ducks turned around and hired Dillingham from Florida State on Wednesday, followed by Powledge, from Baylor, just hours later.
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Dillingham is the coach who has experience in his current role. He was the OC at FSU working under Mike Norvell for the past two seasons, where he was regarded as a better coach than what the numbers showed. As a good player development coach and a solid recruiter, there’s a belief that he can help Oregon’s young roster grow.
Powledge is a different story. He has coached for 11 years, and was most recently the special teams and safeties coach for the Baylor Bears. He worked under Dave Aranda, who is a highly-respected defensive coach, and should be able to help the Ducks, who have a very talented roster on that side of the ball. It also helps that Lanning has been the leader of some of the best defenses that we’ve seen as of late with the Georgia Bulldogs.
Despite the positives, it’s hard to ignore the potential downsides to these hires. Many fans thought when a coach as young as Lanning was hired that it would only make sense if Rob Mullens then went out and surrounded him with veteran coaches who could help fill out the coaching staff and make a cohesive unit. Instead, the Ducks did the opposite, finding a trio of young up-and-coming coaches who have shown a lot of promise.
What happens if they don’t turn out to have all of the acumens that we believe they do? What happens if the prospect of being a head coach is overwhelming for Lanning, or if the jump from special teams to coordinator is too big for Powledge?
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We don’t expect this to be the case, but it’s a question that any fan should be asking. Is there a backup plan here?
The ceiling is very high for the Ducks. Lanning has been pegged by the college football world as one of the coordinators most likely to succeed as a head coach, and should he successfully take that next step and lead the Ducks to big victories, it will be viewed as a home-run hire for Oregon. The same way with Dillingham and Powledge, they could easily be pulled to the head coaching ranks a few years down the road if Pac-12 titles and potential trips to the College Football Playoff appear down the road for the Ducks.
If not, though, then these moves will be questioned aggressively by Oregon fans, and Rob Mullens will be pressed for answers. With mega-booster Phil Knight badly wanting a championship in Eugene over the next decade, this was a risky route to take for the Ducks. We’ll see how it pans out over the next couple of years.
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