By almost any measure, Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning had a very successful first year in Eugene last season. He became just the fifth coach in Oregon history to notch 10 wins, and the third to do so in his first season with the team.
While there are certainly things that could have gone better — losing to rivals Oregon State and Washington in the same year is never something you want — it’s clear that Oregon fans should be encouraged and excited about what’s to come for the Ducks. Lanning has proved that he has an elite football mind, and his recruiting prowess has continued what Mario Cristobal started in Eugene, bringing some of the best players in the nation to the pacific northwest.
The question going forward will be to see how high the ceiling is in the future.
If you look back through the Oregon record books, Duck coaches have seen some great success in year two with the program. Both Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich made it to the national championship game, while Mario Cristobal won a Rose Bowl. So how will Dan Lanning’s second season with the Ducks stack up compared to his predecessors? It’s impossible to say, but he’s on a great trajectory at the very least.
In order to get a good breakdown, I went back through what I like to refer to as the “modern era” of Oregon coaches. While the Ducks have been around since 1894, a total of 39 head coaches came through the program, oftentimes only spending one or two seasons in Eugene. Until the legendary Len Casanova came along in 1951, no single coach had spent more than 5 seasons with the program. So that’s going to be where I start our modern era. Since 1951, there have been only 11 head coaches at Oregon.
So how did those coaches fare in their second year with the program? Let’s take a look: