Dan Lanning has yet to coach a game in college football as the top of the organizational chart. He has a little more than half a year as head coach of the Oregon Ducks. While we don’t quite know what his game chops are going to be, he has certainly impressed early with his recruiting prowess and ability to quickly create a culture and bring in past members of the Oregon program into the fold.
Despite all of that, he’s yet to get much respect in the rankings of coaches around the nation or in the Pac-12. Earlier this offseason, CBS Sports ranked all of the head coaches in the Power Five conferences, and Lanning landed at No. 54 on that list.
Now, CBS Sports took a crack at ranking the head coaches just in the Pac-12 conference — USC and UCLA were included since they will not depart for the Big Ten until 2024 — and weren’t quick to rank Lanning high on the list due in part to his early success in the offseason.
But did they drop him lower than he really should be? You be the judge. Here are the rankings: