Dan Lanning

Dan Lanning is married to Sauphia, and they have three sons, Caden, Kniles, and Titan. He was born in North Kansas City, Missouri, and his family later moved to a farm in Richmond, Missouri, owned by his maternal grandparents.

His parents, Don and Janis Lanning, worked as teachers in Missouri public schools. His mother taught English and language arts, while his father taught science. Lanning attended high school in Richmond and played linebacker at William Jewell College.

Lanning played linebacker at William Jewell College from 2004 to 2007 and earned two Bachelor of Science degrees, in physical education and secondary education, in 2008. He later completed coursework for a master's degree in secondary administration at William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri.

He began coaching at Park Hill South High School in Missouri, where he worked from 2008 to 2010 as the special teams coordinator, defensive backs coach, and wide receivers coach. He then entered college football as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 2011, followed Todd Graham to Arizona State, and became the Sun Devils' on-campus recruiting coordinator in 2013.

Lanning made his first on-field college coaching appearance at Sam Houston State in 2014 as defensive backs coach and co-recruiting coordinator. He subsequently worked as a defensive graduate assistant at Alabama, coached inside linebackers and served as recruiting coordinator at Memphis, and joined Georgia in 2018.

Georgia hired Lanning as its outside linebackers coach in 2018 and promoted him to defensive coordinator in February 2019. In his three seasons coordinating the defense, Georgia led the nation in combined scoring defense and rushing defense and ranked second nationally in total defense.

The 2021 Bulldogs defense allowed 10.2 points per game, gave up only 16 touchdowns all season, and held Michigan to 11 points in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Georgia then defeated Alabama in the national championship game, giving Lanning a national title before he became a head coach.

Lanning also coached several prominent defensive players, including Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Travon Walker, Quay Walker, Devonte Wyatt, Lewis Cine, Azeez Ojulari, and D'Andre Walker. Eight players from his 2021 Georgia defense were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, including five first-round picks, a record for a single defense.

Oregon appointed Lanning its 35th head coach on December 11, 2021. He led the Ducks to a 10-3 record and a Holiday Bowl victory over North Carolina in his first season, then guided Oregon to a 12-2 record, the final Pac-12 Championship Game, and a Fiesta Bowl win over Liberty in 2023.

In 2024, Oregon went 12-0 in the regular season, defeated Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game, and earned the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff during the program's first season in the conference. The Ducks finished with 13 wins, matching the program record, and Lanning became one of only two Oregon head coaches to produce back-to-back 12-win seasons.

Lanning's Oregon teams have also been marked by recruiting success and player development. The 2024 team produced a program-record 12 NFL Combine invitations, while the 2023 team produced eight NFL Draft selections, led by quarterback Bo Nix and center Jackson Powers-Johnson.