Dan Lanning Comments on Conference Realignment, Direction of College Football in 2022
It's no secret that college athletics are changing in 2022.
College football has seen the most change of any major sport in the past year and it doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.
USC and UCLA's defect from the Pac-12 for the Big Ten has discussion of conference realignment booming loader than ever while name, image and likeness simultaneously runs wild with no regulation from the NCAA.
Last week, Dan Lanning joined other Pac-12 head coaches at Pac-12 Media Day and weighed in on the direction college football is headed.
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"Yeah, it seems to be ever-changing, doesn't it?" Lanning said. I've been asked a couple times what it's like being a first-year head coach in this environment. The one thing I'll say is it's probably pretty similar to being a 15-year head coach in this environment because it's different. It continues to change."
Despite all the change, the first-year head coach is confident in how Oregon is positioned to navigate what have so far been some turbulent waters.
"I think what we do at the University of Oregon is we continue to put the focus of the players first," he said. "I certainly want to see our players maximize their opportunities, whether that be through name, image and likeness. I think we're positioned really well to be successful there. But we want to play elite competition. I trust George (Kliavkoff) and our leadership in conference to continue to point us in the right direction there."
The Pac-12 suffered a major loss when two of its top brands in USC and UCLA jumped ship and announced they would be headed to the Big Ten.
Lanning was asked about realignment and hammered home that he thinks Oregon will be just fine due to the school's ascension up the ranks prior to his arrival in Eugene.
"Yeah, I think it's certainly a conversation," Lanning said. "Oregon has been always a premier team in college football. I think we'll continue to be."
An interesting recurrence we saw at Pac-12 Media Day was coaches talking up their schools--almost as if they were making a sales pitch to other conferences that might have had their eyes and ears on Los Angeles on Friday.
Oregon's head coach certainly made the case for his program as one of the best in the country, and one that certainly doesn't lack buzz from an ever-growing fan base.
"Our fans are extremely passionate. Being a top-10 team when it comes to views in homes this last year, the ability to compete for championships year in and year out with coaching changes and different things. That's still allowed Oregon to be at the forefront of competition."
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