Dan Lanning Weighs in on State of Our Country in Wake of Charlie Kirk Assassination

The No. 4 Oregon Ducks beat the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, winning 34-14 on the road. After the game, Oregon coach Dan Lanning was asked if he had addressed his team about the assassination of political figure and Oregon fan Charlie Kirk.

Lanning took some time to answer the question with his thoughts, as a football coach and as a father.

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning Northwestern Wildcats gun violence Charlie Kirk assassination politic — Oregon head coach Dan Lanning walks the field as the Oregon Ducks host the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sept. 6, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Question: There's been a lot going on in the country last week. Have you addressed that with your team?

Dan Lanning's Answer:

"I think the U.S. could learn a lot from our locker room; I think the people in this world can learn a lot from our locker room. You walk in that locker room, you got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you got a team that loves each other. Tons of differences — where they come from, what they deal with, and ultimately you got a team that loves each other, and I think we’re missing some of that in our country." said Lanning.

"I recently found out Charlie Kirk was an Oregon fan, right? I didn't know that. I hurt for his wife, Erika and their kids. That sort of evil should never exist in our country, and that's what it is - evil," Lanning continued. "I remember having to explain that to my family, right? I remember sitting down my kids and explaining what happened, and they're talking about people talking about it at school. And it's just sad, right?"

"But it's just as sad, you know, every day it seems like we deal with some sort of violence that's going on our country, whether it's you know, school kids in Colorado or kids in Minnesota at churches. I mean, life matters, you know, and I think we've lost sight of that. But I just wish, I wish the world could learn a little bit of something from our locker room, because we got a bunch of people with differences, and what you got in there is a bunch people there," he said.

Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning during the game against Oklahoma State. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“There’s some people that’ll be disappointed about how much I said about this, right? And there’ll be some people that are disappointed that I didn’t say enough, right? And I really don’t care. What I do care about is, if you disagree with me, if you hate me, if you don’t like me, just know this — I love you. I absolutely love you, right? And life matters. And there’s no way that Charlie should experience, that his family should experience, that there’s no way that that evil should exist in this world," Lanning said.

"And we have to continue to identify and point it out and make sure that it’s absolutely evil. There’s no reason in the world that our kids, that we should be worried about sending our kids to school. It’s our most valuable commodity in the world. They should be protected. And the reality is, there’s just not a lot of common sense on both sides," he continued.

“Common sense says, oh, it’s mental health, right? Common sense says, oh, it’s guns. You know what? It’s both. Let’s have some common sense. Our kids should be the most protected thing in the world, right? They should have armed guards at every school, because there’s sick people, there’s sick people in this world, right? And on top of that, sick people need help, and it should be really hard for a sick person to have a gun," Lanning said.

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"Should be really hard, right? And if people can’t see that from both sides, how disappointing is that? But I just know, like, when you see moments like that that exist right now in our country, like, I just think about my kids, and I hope — I saw that video, it’s disgusting. And I just hope I’m like, man, I hope my kids don’t see that video. I hope Charlie’s kids never see that video. Like, disgusting, right? And yet, we glorify it. We praise it," he said.

“You know, people are internet warriors, and those are sick people, and at some point we need to go look at sports, because what our football team has is, it has people on both sides of the fence, right? And there’s fans that love our team, that have a lot of different opinions. And the truth is, there’s a lot of things. There’s a lot of things Charlie said that I did not agree with at all. There’s a lot of things he said that I did agree with."

Sep 6, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning greets fans before a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

"But what’s disappointing is, I could respect those differences and yet somebody else couldn’t, and they thought that they deserved to be God in that moment. And they didn’t, right, and nobody should have to experience that. So yeah, I got a lot of disappointment. We had a Bible study with our team. We talked about it with our team and I think our team feels the same way regardless of views. I don’t think they feel anybody ever deserves to experience what some people in our country are experiencing right now, and it’s super disappointing," Lanning concluded.

The above transcript is via Rob Moseley of GoDucks.com