For Dan Lanning, It’s All About Football As Spring Practice Resumes
By 750 THE GAME STAFF
Oregon spring practice is back after spring break and head coach Dan Lanning is giddy.
Lanning addressed the media after practice on Tuesday and you could see and hear that he loves football.
Even with all the love going around in Eugene, the Ducks have some questions that need to be answered. Running backs coach Carlos Locklyn is heading to Big 10 rival Ohio State. Locklyn, who signed a contract extension last month worth $400,000 annually through January 2026, is leaving the Ducks to accept the same job at Ohio State. Locklyn’s buyout to leave Oregon, which was approximately $733,333 as of Sunday, dropped to 50% of his remaining salary as of Monday.
Lanning addressed the loss saying Locklyn is a great coach, but this is the world of football that we live in and all you can do is move forward.
“It’s football,” Lanning said Tuesday. “It’s the reality. Carlos did an unbelievable job for us. My goal is when we bring people here that we advance them to opportunities that make sense for them. I know how great Oregon is. And I know this. The reality is we aren’t really considered about winning the press conference. You know he did a great job for us here, but when we hired him he was a relatively unknown coach and he did a really good job.”
It’s always about what you can do with Lanning. He can’t control where the coaches or players go. All he can control is who is next in line once those people leave the Oregon program.
“The key for us is who we replace him with,” he said. “This is a great opportunity. Transitions give you an opportunity to get better. So that’s our goal is to get better. Bring somebody in here who can do a really good job with our organization. We got a lot of young coaches right now in our organization that do an unbelievable job. So moving on. We’re excited for our next move.”
One of the guys Lanning brought in to replace someone who is gone is quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel is taking over for Bo Nix who is heading to the NFL after a tremendous two years with the Ducks, setting records and becoming a Heisman finalist. Lanning says Gabriel is doing the right things so far and he knows how important chemistry is going to be for the Ducks to be successful.
“He (Gabriel) gets it,” Lanning said. “Our guys get it. Dillon’s a guy who gets it. When we talk about connection. It’s one of the DNA traits that’s in our program, and that requires time away from ball together. I think he knows that’s really important for him to be in sync with the guys he’s playing with and that will pay off in the future.”
Oregon’s spring game will be April 27th at Autzen Stadium. Start time is slated for 1 p.m.
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