Oregon's Dan Lanning Shockingly Snubbed From Coaching Award

For the second straight season, the Oregon Ducks will be in the College Football Playoff. Oregon coach Dan Lanning now has a career record of 46-7 in his four years as coach in Eugene.

As the regular season and conference title weekend has now concluded in college football, the 12 finalists for the 2025 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award have been announced. Surprisingly, Lanning is not one of them.

Eddie Robinson Coach of Year Finalists

Oregon Ducks Dan Lanning Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year College Football Playoff Will Stein Tosh Lupoi Coordinator Big Ten — Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti hoists the trophy following their 13-10 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 6, 2025. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The 12 finalists for the 2025 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award are:

Bob Chesney, James Madison Dukes
Curt Cignetti, Indiana Hoosiers
Ryan Day, Ohio State Buckeyes
Mike Elko, Texas A&M Aggies
Tony Elliot, Virginia Cavaliers
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt Commodores
Jerry Mack, Kennesaw State Owls
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech Red Raiders
Jim Mora, UConn Huskies
Jon Sumrall, Tulane Green Wave
Kirby Smart, Georgia Bulldogs

Does Lanning deserve to be on this list? Taking into account the amount of players he’s had to replace on both sides of the ball and Oregon having won 11 games, there is certainly a strong argument.

The coach on this list that stands out above the rest right now is Indiana's Curt Cignetti. Cignetti has Indiana as the No. 1 team in the nation with a 13-0 record after defeating defending national champion Ohio State in the Big Ten championship. Cignetti also led his Hoosiers into Autzen Stadium this season and snapped the Ducks home winning streak.

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Dan Lanning Snubbed?

The Ducks had a program record 10 players from their 2024 team selected in the 2025 NFL Draft that Lanning had to find a way to fill the void for.

This included the team’s starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel, leading rusher Jordan James, and leading receiver Tez Johnson.

Furthermore, Oregon has been hampered with injuries this season especially in the wide receivers room. In the offseason, things were setting up for returning wide receiver Evan Stewart to be the Ducks No. 1 option in the passing game with first year Oregon starting quarterback Dante Moore. Before the season even kicked off, Stewart suffered a knee injury that has kept him on the sidelines all season.

Oregon has also had injuries to receivers Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. they have had to deal with. Even with all of this, Oregon still finished the season with a 11-1 record and is ranked No. 5 in the College Football Playoff bracket with their sights set on bringing home the first national championship in program history.

An Elite Coaching Staff

In addition to Lanning, a lot of credit of the credit for this success goes to offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi. Their contributions to this team have not gone unnoticed as both have agreed to become head coaches at power conference programs. Stein was hired by the Kentucky Wildcats and Lupoi was hired by the California Golden Bears.

Both of them will finish out the season with Oregon as coordinators for the national title push. The Ducks announced two in-house hires to fill those positions for 2026 with Drew Mehringer as offensive coordinator and Chris Hampton as defensive coordinator.